Manufacturing jobs in the United States have declined considerably over the past several decades, even as manufacturing output – the value of goods and products manufactured in the U.S. – has grown strongly. But while most Americans are aware of the decline in employment, relatively few know about the increase in output, according to a … Continue reading
This week marks the eighth anniversary of the last time the federal minimum wage was raised, from $6.55 to $7.25 on July 24, 2009. Since then, the purchasing power of the federal minimum wage has fallen by 12.5 percent as inflation has slowly eroded its value. However, this decline in the buying power of the … Continue reading
This report looks at trends in CEO compensation using two measures of compensation. The first measure includes stock options realized (in addition to salary, bonuses, restricted stock grants, and long-term incentive payouts). By this measure, in 2016 CEOs in America’s largest firms made an average of $15.6 million in compensation, or 271 times the annual … Continue reading
According to recently released data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more than 3.2 million people quit their jobs in May 2017, the most Americans to quit in a month since early 2001. It’s also the highest rate of quitting since June 2006. This might seem concerning. If a lot of people are … Continue reading
As the first crop of Gen Z talent joins the future workforce, new grads hold traditional work values with a digital spin. For the first time in years, there is an uptick in the number of new college graduates wanting to work for large companies. They are willing to commit and ready to roll up … Continue reading
Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress (July 12, 2017) Chair Janet L. Yellen (Before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.) Chairman Hensarling, Ranking Member Waters, and other members of the Committee, I am pleased to present the Federal Reserve’s semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress. In my remarks … Continue reading
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 222,000 in June, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care, social assistance, financial activities, and mining. Household Survey Data In June, the unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, … Continue reading
Why do new college graduates end up so disillusioned, underemployed and undervalued after a couple years of work? The Accenture Strategy 2016 U.S. College Graduate Employment Study highlights the disparity between new graduate expectations and the reality of the working world, and examines how employers can improve the employee experience to attract and retain top … Continue reading
Americans have increasingly positive perceptions of the job market and what it offers. In 2012, an average of 19% of people said it was a good time to find a quality job. For the first three quarters of 2016, an average of 42% said the same. Among those in the labor force (employed, unemployed or … Continue reading
In-work poverty became a prominent policy issue in the United States long before the term itself acquired any meaning and relevance in other industrialized countries. With America’s embrace of an employment-centered antipoverty strategy, the working poor have become even more of an issue. This paper reviews some key trends, drivers and policy issues. How much … Continue reading
Closing the skills gap is a work in progress, but business leaders are moving forward on several fronts to tackle this challenge. Business Roundtable has highlighted some of the ways that America’s largest employers are working with academia to increase the pipeline of skilled and diverse workers to join their companies and to upgrade and transform the … Continue reading
This paper estimates dynamic employment multipliers in a U.S. county during 1998-2015. On average,one exogenous tradable job gain creates 1.1 jobs in the rest of the county economy in the same year, but is offset by losses of 0.23 job one year later and 0.32 job two years later. The multiplier is modest during the … Continue reading
AMERICAN companies will spend over $1 billion on employee engagement in 2017 and over $100 billion on training and development activities. Yet despite this investment, employee engagement remains low, at 34 percent. Perhaps more troubling: In an increasingly unpredictable business environment, most US workers, even those who are engaged, lack the disposition to embrace unexpected … Continue reading
The higher education sector itself is an important piece of the U.S. economy. In the fall of 2013, institutions of higher education that participated in Title IV federal financial aid programs employed almost 4 million people. The higher education sector also confers a large advantage to the United States in the global market for talent. … Continue reading
The median number of years that wage and salary workers in the U.S. have been with their current employer was 4.2 when the Bureau of Labor Statistics last checked in January 2016. That’s higher than at any time in the 1980s or ’90s. The percentage of Americans switching employers or shifting in and out of … Continue reading