Job Market Monitor
United States
Colorado – Vestas cuts 200 more jobs
Vestas has continued its US restructuring programme and cut 200 jobs at its Windsor, Colorado blade manufacturing plant. In all, Vestas chief executive Ditlev Engel has said the company would cut 1,600 jobs if the production tax credit (PTC) was not renewed. The 200 job losses at Windsor represent 29% of the plant’s workforce. The … Continue reading
US – Latin American and Caribbean Women are Better Educated but get Lower Paid
Despite recent gains, the wage gap between men and women in Latin America still prevails, according to a new Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study entitled “New Century, Old Disparities,” which compares surveys of representative households in 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries. The study was released at the POWER Conference, a high-level meeting of experts … Continue reading
Unemployment – Hurts more than just the Unemployed
High unemployment has negative spillovers for most of those still at work. In a labor market like ours, with low unionization rates, bargaining clout for many in the workforce is very much a function of the unemployment rate. Excess labor supply over labor demand typically puts downward pressure on both nominal and real wages. The … Continue reading
US – Offshoring and middle-income workers
New evidence on the relationship between offshoring and polarisation In a new working paper, Lindsay Oldenski documents an empirical link between offshoring and the polarisation of the US labour market (Oldenski 2012). This study, which will be presented in November at both the Empirical Investigations in International Trade conference in Santa Cruz and the US Department of … Continue reading
US – Amazon : Hiring 50,000 seasonal workers
It’s only October, but companies like Amazon are already thinking about the holidays. The online retailer is the latest to announce its seasonal hiring plan, and it’s significant: 50,000 jobs in the United States Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) currently employs 20,000 people at its 40 fulfillment centers across the country, where the seasonal employees will … Continue reading
US – 14 million white-collar jobs are vulnerable to being outsourced offshore
Is offshore outsourcing good or harmful for America? To convince Americans of outsourcing’s benefits, corporate outsourcers sponsor misleading one-sided “studies.” Only a small handful of people have looked objectively at the issue. These few and the large number of Americans whose careers have been destroyed by outsourcing have a different view of outsourcing’s impact. But so … Continue reading
US – Closing The Jobs Deficit
The latest data on employment in the United States confirm that the American economy continues to recover from the Great Recession of 2008-2009, despite the slowdown engulfing the other G-20 nations. Indeed, the pace of private-sector job growth has actually been much stronger during this recovery than during the recovery from the 2001 recession, and … Continue reading
US – Study shows $1.2 trillion gap for public pensions
The largest 100 public pension funds have around $1.2 trillion of unfunded liabilities, about $300 billion above the nearly $900 billion they reported themselves, according to a new actuarial study to be released on Monday. The pension systems reported a median funding level of 75.1 percent. The study by the actuarial firm Milliman, which used … Continue reading
Washington – Retirements surge, new hires plummet
The federal government’s long-awaited retirement wave is here, and it’s smacking headlong into the biggest hiring slowdown in a decade. And it’s not just retirements. Overall attrition shot up in 2011, which caused the government’s total workforce to drop by its greatest amount since the height of the government downsizing in 1999. With no end … Continue reading
US – The economic Elysium predicted by backers of free trade prior to its passage never developed
America’s current economic unwinding didn’t begin on Wall Street in 2008, as is often reiterated. Its genesis lies in the affluence-to-poverty trade regiments enacted by President Clinton, beginning in 1993. Seduced by assurances that free trade would create millions of new high-paying jobs in the United States, Democrats, aided by Republican politicos like Newt Gingrich, … Continue reading
The world is stuck in a vicious cycle writes Lawrence Summers
If the global economy was in trouble before the annual World Bank and IMF meetings in Tokyo last week, it is hard to believe that it is now smooth sailing. Indeed, apart from the modest stimulus provided to the Japanese economy by all the official visitors and the wealthy financial sector hangers on, it is … Continue reading
Income Inequality and the Death of Trickledown
On September 12, 2012, the Census issued its report on Income, Poverty, and Healthcare Coverage in the United States: 2011. While the full report has some nice charts, one that was conspicuously missing was on income inequality. The data for such a chart was in the tables, and so I was able to construct the … Continue reading
Working America – An Overview
Daily stock indices, monthly employment reports, and even quarterly data on the gross domestic product are insufficient indicators for answering this vital question: How well is the American economy providing acceptable growth in living standards for most households? EPI’s The State of Working America, 12th Edition looks broadly at available data and concludes that the … 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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Unemployment Insurance Claims – The US job market really going the wrong way
Last reports were not good, no more than the Current Population Survey for August. This morning report isn’t better. Is the job market really going the wrong way. -*- SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending September 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 382,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous … Continue reading
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