Census Bureau data shows that median earnings for full-time, year-round workers dropped from by nearly 3 percent for men and 1 percent for women between 2009 and 2014. While new data from the Labor Department shows that wage gains have accelerated over the past two years, that trend is only beginning to make up for … Continue reading
The European Union (EU) totals almost 90 million people aged 15-29, representing 17% of its population. These young people are in very different situations, with education and employment patterns varying considerably between Member States and by age group. Between the ages of 15 and 29, a clear and significant shift occurs from the world of … Continue reading
We Live in a Time of Unprecedented Prosperity We have had a great run. The world has never been more prosperous than it is today. People around the world live longer, healthier lives than ever before. In emerging markets, billions of people have moved out of extreme poverty. In the developed world, we enjoy better … Continue reading
In 2009, ISTAT carried out a survey of Ph.D. holders who completed their studies three and five years earlier, in 2006 and in 2004, respectively. The data reveals that unemployment among Ph.D. holders is lower than what is reported for university graduates. A share as high as 92.5% of doctors who completed their studies in … Continue reading
A college education, it is hoped, will help the children of the poor and working class gain a larger share of the economic pie. But how much does college really pay off for lower-income Americans? Perhaps surprisingly, there has been little research on how family income background influences the career earnings boost from a college … Continue reading
Community colleges are a vital part of America’s opportunity structure, not least because they often provide a way into higher education for adults from less advantaged backgrounds. Each year there are around 10 million undergraduates enrolled at public, two-year colleges. Among first-generation students, nearly 38 percent attend community colleges, compared to 20 percent of students … Continue reading
The United States has long been the top destination country for migrants worldwide, though if the European Union, Norway and Switzerland were a single country it would outrank the U.S. as a destination for international migrants. But the U.S. and Europe are quite different when it comes to their migrant populations’ origin countries. In 2015, … Continue reading
Workers turn to social media for a range of reasons while at work, with taking a mental break being among the most common Today’s workers incorporate social media into a wide range of activities while on the job. Some of these activities are explicitly professional or job-related, while others are more personal in nature. The … Continue reading
The U.S. is projected to have no racial or ethnic group as its majority within the next several decades, but that day apparently is already here for the nation’s youngest children, according to new Census Bureau population estimates. The bureau’s estimates for July 1, 2015, released today, say that just over half – 50.2% – … Continue reading
Who is licensed? Using the newly released Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it is possible to describe licensed workers and then examine a number of important economic implications of licensing. Licensing varies substantially by occupation. Legal, education, and healthcare occupations feature licensing at particularly high rates, as shown in Figure 1. Note that the increase … Continue reading
Effective Recruitment Skills shortages and the retirement of experienced tradespeople are creating an urgent need to transfer knowledge from one generation to the next, developing the skills and competencies companies need. Apprenticeship is an important recruiting strategy – providing an opportunity to grow the future workforce, sustain the supply of highly skilled workers and pass … Continue reading
As a share of the total working-age adult living in poverty population: 18 percent —a third of the non-workers living in poverty—are disabled. 26 percent—just under half of non-workers—are caregivers or students. 6 percent are retired, though it is important to note that only the working-age population is considered here, so this constitutes early retirement. … Continue reading
Fed officials, and other economists, have been grappling with the divergence between relatively weak reported economic growth and relatively strong job growth. Those at the Fed have largely taken the view that labor market data is more accurate, which has been true over time. Wrong Direction The Federal Reserve created an index to better measure … Continue reading
Workers in America’s oil and gas patches have enjoyed some of the country’s biggest gains in the buying power of their paychecks over the past decade and a half, while workers in several small and mid-sized manufacturing-oriented cities have watched their buying power shrink over the same time period. A Pew Research Center analysis of federal … Continue reading
The decline in labor force participation rates has been widely documented, but the growing gulf in the work gap between the bottom third and the rest of the population is truly striking:While the share of men who are employed in the top two-thirds has been quite stable since 1980, lower-income men’s work rates have declined … Continue reading