Job Market Monitor
US
US / The critical role of the humanities and social sciences for a vibrant democracy
« As we strive to create a more civil public discourse, a more adaptable and creative workforce, and a more secure nation, the humanities and social sciences are the heart of the matter, the keeper of the republic—a source of national memory and civic vigor, cultural understanding and communication, individual fulfillment and the ideals we hold in … Continue reading
US / Hiring still depressed
Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle explains the importance of this seemingly minor indicator to Fed deliberations on monetary policy: The hiring rate is one of the key indicators for the labor market outlook. The hiring rate dropped sharply during the recession and the layoffs rate spiked. In the last couple of years, the layoffs rate … Continue reading
US / Trends in Employment Rates by Educational Attainment (video)
The employment to population ratio, also referred to as the employment rate, represents the proportion of the civilian population that is employed, and it is used as a measure of labor market conditions and the economy’s ability to provide jobs for a growing population. In this indicator, employment to population ratio and employment rate are … Continue reading
US / Unpaid Internship: roughly a fifth of those positions pay zero and offer no course credit
Though the laws are clear, employers in competitive, creative fields have ignored them. As the ranks of the unemployed have swelled and the surplus of jobless college students and grads has grown, increasing numbers of people young and old have been signing on for unpaid internships, wanting to make contacts and accumulate résumé lines that … Continue reading
US / Wage stickiness might be dying out
A new paper by a trio of researchers confirms some old news: Adjusted for inflation, wages began stagnating for both men and women 10 years ago. Men’s wages have actually decreased slightly since 2000, while women’s wages, which had been rising steadily for decades, flattened out nearly to zero. But it could have been worse. … Continue reading
US/ Minimum Wage / Available research finds “no evidence of a meaningful adverse employment effect” – Council of Economic Advisers
A meta-analysis by Doucouliagos and Stanley (2009) of 64 studies on the minimum wage published between 1972 and 2007, encompassing over 1,000 estimates, finds that most estimates are concentrated around zero, indicating no detectable effect (see figure). The authors conclude that the available research finds “no evidence of a meaningful adverse employment effect” of the … Continue reading
US Census / Asians fastest-growing ethnic group and median age climbed to 37.4 in 2012
The U.S. Census Bureau announced Asians were the nation’s fastest-growing race or ethnic group in 2012. Their population rose by 530,000, or 2.9 percent, in the preceding year, to 18.9 million, according to Census Bureau annual population estimates. More than 60 percent of this growth in the Asian population came from international migration. By comparison, … Continue reading
US / The Jobs Gap: Unemployed Workers Still Far Outnumber Job Openings in Every Major Sector
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed job openings falling by 118,000 in April to 3.8 million. Job openings have improved very little over the last year and remain very depressed. In 2007, there were 4.5 million job openings each month, so April’s level of 3.8 … Continue reading
US / What This Job Recovery Looks Like
If we look at trends over the last few years one can see how this recovery is taking hold. Some of the significant changes which have taken place in the last 2 1/2 years include: Administrative positions have risen by 11% and temporary services have increased by 9.7%. These trends point out two trends: businesses … Continue reading
Yes, Unemployment Benefits may rise Unemployment But … writes Krugman
A reader writes in, having just heard somebody or other claim that the current unemployment rate would be much lower if unemployment benefits were even less generous, and asks whether this can be true. And the answer is no. People who say things like this are fundamentally confused about what the economic research actually means. … Continue reading
US / Half of all STEM jobs are available to workers without a four-year college degree finds Brookings Institute
Workers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields play a direct role in driving economic growth. Yet, because of how the STEM economy has been defined, policymakers have mainly focused on supporting workers with at least a bachelor’s (BA) degree, overlooking a strong potential workforce of those with less education but substantial STEM skills. … Continue reading
US / Employment Lags
The American economy may be the world’s biggest, but when it comes to job creation since the recession hit at the end of 2007, it is far from a leader. Indeed, contrary to the widespread view that the United States is an island of relative prosperity in a global sea of economic torpor, employment in … Continue reading
US / Long-Term Unemployment Persists
Long-term unemployment remains a very dark shadow in the May jobs report: 4.4 million workers have been out of a job for more than six months. In essence, the job market has normalized for the short-term unemployed. But the longer you have been out of a job, the bleaker the picture gets. The number of … Continue reading
US / Lowering Expectations about Employment Gains for the coming years
“The buoyant monthly employment gains that accompanied prior recoveries are not likely to be repeated. Indeed, even if GDP growth were to surprise on the high side (3.1 percent for 2013 as illustrated in the cyclical LFPR scenario), employment growth generated by our model would still be just 147,000 per month in the current year, … Continue reading
US / Employment growth above about 80,000 jobs per month would put downward pressure on the unemployment rate finds research
Daniel Aaronson and Scott Brave « estimate that, currently, employment growth above about 80,000 jobs per month would put downward pressure on the unemployment rate » in Estimating the trend in employment growth on Chicago Fed Letter. (Adapted Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor to follow) Likewise, anything short of this benchmark would push the unemployment rate up. … Continue reading
