A Closer Look

OECD / How’s life? The Better Life Index gives answers

  There is more to life than the cold numbers of GDP and economic statistics – This Index allows you to compare well-being across countries, based on 11 topics the OECD has identified as essential, in the areas of material living conditions and quality of life. For over fifty years, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation … Continue reading →

US Labor Market / Has the Great Recession created new behaviour ?

The question is whether the Great Recession had created “behavioral changes” in the labor markets. Continue reading →

Schooling and Education / Are children learning? In many cases, no says Lant Pritchett from Harvard’s Kennedy School

The average Haitian or Bangladeshi in 2010 had more years of schooling than the average French or Italian person did in 1960 Continue reading →

Illinois / Losing over 130,000 manufacturing jobs in the past decade

It’s hard not to notice the disappearance of Illinois’ manufacturing sector. Anyone driving through the outskirts of Peoria can witness the closed buildings and half-abandoned neighborhoods. Cities all across Illinois have seen a similar story unfold. Illinois’ manufacturing base has been in decline, losing over 130,000 manufacturing jobs in the past decade. Chosen excerpts by … Continue reading →

Youth unemployment around the world – Infographic

The lack of employment opportunities available to youth has become a global issue that could threaten the economic growth of several countries for years Continue reading →

Mothers in US / More fatigued than dads

For the first time, the survey is asking parents how they feel about that. Mothers, they found, feel exhausted Continue reading →

US / 25% of all new jobs since 2010 fall in the mid-wage range, 46% in the low

Middle-skill jobs are in the same camp as green jobs, STEM jobs, and other groups of occupations that garner lots of attention: They can be defined many ways, by many rubrics. Regardless of the definition, however, it’s clear that middle-skill, or middle-wage, jobs have been in decline for years. New research from the Federal Reserve indicates … Continue reading →

US / The nonprofit sector employs nearly 18 times more workers than the nation’s utilities industry

A MAJOR ECONOMIC FORCE The data reported here confirm the enormous scale of the nonprofit workforce. U.S. nonprofit establishments employed nearly 10.7 million paid workers in 2010. This accounts for 10.1 percent of our nation’s total private employment and makes the U.S. nonprofit workforce the third largest among U.S. industries, behind only retail trade and … Continue reading →

Canada / The job recovery isn’t producing enough to adequately absorb the natural expansion in labour force

U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke often emphasizes that it is not good enough to have a growing economy; what is needed is sufficient growth to absorb the expanding labour force that naturally accompanies a growing population. Canada’s labour market is in better shape than America’s, but Mr. Bernanke’s point applies equally here, especially since … Continue reading →

US / Social mobility and the growing education gap

Poverty blocks children from high-quality educational opportunities while privilege insures better schools, advanced degrees, and access to jobs linked to the networking of privilege Continue reading →

US / Adjusting to the ‘New Normal’ of Long-term High Unemployment

The problem now is that more than half the unemployed have been jobless for six months or longer Continue reading →

The Great Recession / Suicides spiked a study finds

The Great Recession resulted in 5,000 additional suicides worldwide in 2009, according to a recent study — the first to look at suicide trends globally in the wake of the crisis Continue reading →

The psychology of poverty (Infographics)

UK / For a Commitment to the Apprenticeship Revolution

Demand for graduate jobs out-strips supply. The abundance of degrees from poorly regarded institutions serves only to inflate the price of tuition for those that university really is for: individuals who are academically talented and that want to fulfill their potential, regardless of their background or ability to pay Continue reading →

US Job Generation Gap / We’re All In This Together

In all likelihood, job numbers mean that fewer aging Americans have the financial means to retire Continue reading →