United States

Unemployment Extension in US – A bipartisan compromise agreement on the table

Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) have  announced a bipartisan compromise agreement (Reed-Heller Agreement to Restore Emergency Unemployment Insurance) to restore federal jobless benefits which expired on December 28, 2013. The legislation would provide for a 5 month extension of federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) which expired on December 28th. The more … Continue reading →

Long-Term Unemployment in US – CBO on its causes, effects, and policy options

Minimum Wage and Poverty in US – The income boost would be less than $1.00 for each $1.00 increase in gross earnings writes Congressional Research Service

Pending before Congress is legislation (S. 1737 and H.R. 1010) that would raise the federal minimum wage from its current $7.25 per hour to, ultimately, $10.10 per hour. The minimum wage would be adjusted for inflation thereafter. Whether the minimum wage or alternative policies, namely government-funded earnings supplements such as the Earned Income Tax Credit … Continue reading →

Solar in US – More than 20,000 jobs created in 2013

More than 78,600 clean energy jobs were created in the US throughout 2013, according to a survey by clean tech employment research body, Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). Solar topped the count, with more than 21,600 jobs announced over the year.  The top states for clean energy employment over 2013 were: California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Illinois, Nevada, … Continue reading →

US – Jobs, Economy, Gov’t are top priorities finds Gallup

Three issues — unemployment, the economy in general, and dissatisfaction with government — dominate when Americans name the most important problem facing the nation. Nineteen percent mention unemployment or jobs, 18% say dissatisfaction with government, and 17% the economy in general. Unemployment edged out the other two issues in February, but dropped slightly in March. … Continue reading →

Minimum wage in US – Over 500 economists sign a petition to the President against an increase

The “recovery” from the Great Recession has been anemic. Business growth, job creation, and consumer spending remain tenuous. Since the official trough in June 2009, median income has fallen, real wages have barely risen, unemployment remains elevated, and because so many Americans have left the workforce entirely, the fraction of the population working is below … Continue reading →

Jobs in US Tech-Sector – About 3.9 million workers, roughly 3% of the nation’s payroll workforce

To get a sense of the Web’s impact on employment, we analyzed data from the Occupational Employment Statistics program, a joint federal-state effort to catalog the structure and compensation of the nation’s workforce. The program sorts wage and salary workers into some 800 different occupations, from CEOs to short-order cooks. Twice a year, the program … Continue reading →

The Missing Workers in US – 5.8 Million with vast majority under 55

Since the start of the Great Recession over six years ago, labor force participation has dropped significantly. Most of the drop—roughly three-quarters—was due to the lack of job opportunities in the Great Recession and its aftermath.   There are now 5.8 million workers who are not in the labor force but who would be if job opportunities were … Continue reading →

Jobs – 6 ways to use the data from the BLS

Here are six other ways you can use the Bureau of Labor Statistics to help you on the road to talent acquisition: 1. Shift your focus to a high-growth industry. 2. Gain insight into regional salary expectations. 3. Persuade a candidate that a career move will up their earnings. 4. Figure out how picky you can afford … Continue reading →

Minimum Wage in US / Much of the empirical evidence suggests that it fails to alleviate net poverty says CATO

Numerous empirical studies have examined the effect of past minimum wage increases on poverty. In a 2007 peer-reviewed study, Richard Burkhauser of Cornell University and I examined Census data from 1979 to 2003 to estimate the effects of minimum wage increases on state poverty rates. We found no evidence that minimum wage increases were effective … Continue reading →

Public and Private Sector Payroll Jobs under US Presidents – Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama

There are many differences between these periods. Overall employment was smaller in the ’80s, so a different comparison might be to look at the percentage change.   Of course the participation rate was increasing in the ’80s (younger population and women joining the labor force), and the participation rate is declining now.  But these graphs give … Continue reading →

The Skills Gap in US – Mismatch across industries and occupations explains at most one-third of the total observed increase in the unemployment rate

Aysegul Sahin, Joseph Song, Giorgio Topa and Giovanni L. Violante develop a framework where mismatch between vacancies and job seekers across sectors translates into higher unemployment by lowering the aggregate job-finding rate in Mismatch Unemployment (Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports ). They use this framework to measure the contribution of mismatch to the recent rise … Continue reading →

US / Why didn’t the severe weather put job growth in a deep freeze?

 Mainly because of how the government counts company payrolls. The Labor Department calculates jobs by asking companies how many people they employed during the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month. If a company’s pay period is, say, every two weeks or twice a month, a staffer who worked just one day … Continue reading →

US – The underemployment of college graduates is displacing lower skilled workers

 The jobless rate of Americans ages 25 to 34 who have only completed high school grew 4.3 percentage points to 10.6 percent in 2013 from 2007, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Unemployment for those in that age group with a college degree rose 1.5 percentage points to 3.7 percent in the same period. … Continue reading →

US – Birthrate fell to “another record low” in 2012

Last September, the U.S. government announced that our birthrate fell to “another record low” in 2012, following a long, steady slide since the Baby Boom after World War II. It goes without saying that, morally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with this. It’s natural, in a way. All over the world, birthrates tend to fall along with … Continue reading →