The end of the American labour market model?

In a guest post from Declan Gaffney – shortened from a recent post at his blog L’Art Social – he shows that US employment rates are increasingly unimpressive in international context, despite the claims often made in the UK. Comments from both sides of the Atlantic are welcomed!

Only a few years ago the contrast between a dynamic, high-employment American labour market and stagnant, low-employment labour markets in Europe was a dominant theme in international political economy. While the low wages, inequality and precariousness associated with the American model were recognised and widely deplored, the U.S.’s low rates of unemployment and swift recovery from recessions during the 1980’s and 1990’s led even those on the left to query aspects of the European social model.

The most extreme expression of the U.S/European contrast- the withdrawal of minimal federal safety net provision for the poor under the Clinton welfare reforms of the…