Job Market Monitor
Active Labor Market Policy
COVID and Labor Market Policy – The United States as a whole lags (Canada too)
The United States as a whole lags rich countries in all types of labor-market policies. Its spending on unemployment benefits is well below the OECD average, and its total spending on labor markets is the second lowest of the group. But this is already changing. The projected unemployment spending alone following the Cares Act would … Continue reading
Environment – The greening of economies will require a mix of macroeconomic, industrial, sectoral, labour market and skills policies
The greening of economies through public and private investments in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication will require a mix of macroeconomic, industrial, sectoral, labour market and skills policies. These investments in the formal and informal sector will create and enable sustainable enterprises to prosper. Paying close attention to skills development for the transition to environmentally … Continue reading
Latin America – Active labour market policies are needed to protect social achievements and address productivity gaps
At a time when governments in the region face the dual challenges of creating quality jobs and safeguarding achievements in social inclusion and work quality, an ILO report highlights the need for a new approach based on active labour market policies to address the current economic slowdown. A functional system of ALMPs in the region, … Continue reading
US / The Future of Federal Workforce Development Policy – A video from Brookings Institution
The overhaul of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) in the late 1990s put in place a new framework to provide federal job training programs to workers and to “improve the quality of the workforce, reduce welfare dependency, and enhance productivity and competitiveness.” Reauthorization of WIA is long overdue, as the Act’s provisions technically expired nearly … Continue reading
Monetary and fiscal policies will never suffice to reduce long-term unemployment
One of the main policies to reduce long-term unemployment is an active labor market policy. The OECD publishes each year data on Government investments in labor market programs like training and wage subsidies.
Gemany and the Scandinavian countries are champions of active labor market policies. This is well known. But, less known is the fact that the US are not. US investment in active labor market programs before the Great recession wasbelow the OECD average, nearly 4 times lower: 0.13% of GDP vs 0.48%.
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Labor-market failures will not be demand-side but structural, not amenable to any straightforward and easily implemented cure
J. Bradford DeLong At first, the long-term unemployed in the Great Depression searched eagerly and diligently for alternative sources of work. But, after six months or so passed without successful reemployment, they tended to become discouraged and distraught. After 12 months of continuous unemployment, the typical unemployed worker still searched for a job, but in … Continue reading
US Unemployment System – A Bad Employment Policy
…Between 2008 and 2011, $174 billion in unemployment taxes was collected while $450 billion was paid out in benefits, a gap of $276 billion. Thirty-four states blew through their unemployment insurance trust funds and borrowed from Washington — and 22 of those still owe the feds a total of more than $30 billion, according to … Continue reading
OECD – United States: income support would provide much greater value to the unemployed if they were offered in tandem with a more active set of re-employment services
‘Although job creation has improved and the unemployment rate has come down from a high of 10.0% in October 2009, the effects of the recession on the labour market remain‘ writes, unsurprirsingly the OECD in Economic Survey of the United States 2012. (Adapted excerpts by JMM)
Unemployment in the U.S. | What Can Policy Do?
The U.S. labor market has been reeling since the onset of the Great Recession in December 2007. Public concern has largely focused on the unemployment rate, which rose to double digits and has stalled at more than 8 percent. This rate is unacceptably high, and macroeconomic policy efforts have been unsuccessful in bringing it down write Robert … Continue reading
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