Job Market Monitor
wages
US – Near 6 out of ten of 2014′s new jobs pay higher than average
The U.S. is not just adding jobs at the fastest pace since the end of the Great Recession. Hiring is also more spread out and the new jobs pay better than in years past. As the chart below shows, more than half the jobs the economy has added so far this year are in positions … Continue reading
Income Distribution in US – Estimates of the share of non-managerial workers in all industries since 1964 (Chart)
The statistical image that emerges from these numbers is neither Piketty’s vision of rising returns to “capital” as such, nor Krugman’s picture of an increase in returns to managerial “labor.” Rather, we see the burgeoning of a general surplus: an excess of national income over and above what’s needed to pay the nation’s non-managerial workers, … Continue reading
Unemployment and Wages in the US – Long-term unemployed should not be strongly discounted from measures of slack research finds
Some have argued that the unemployment rate may overestimate labor market slack, because the long-term unemployed (LTU) are largely structurally unemployed and exert significantly less wage and price pressure. If so, then using the aggregate unemployment rate to forecast wage or price inflation may be misleading. However, this Note, along with the companion note showing … Continue reading
US – Highly educated immigrants raise native wages
mmigrants to the US are drawn from both ends of the education spectrum. This column looks at the effect of highly educated immigrants – in particular, those with degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics – on total factor productivity growth. The authors find that foreign STEM workers can explain 30% to 60% of US … Continue reading
Keynes argued that slumps can happen because of declining wage
‘New-Keynesian’ models use sticky prices and downward rigidity of nominal wages to get ‘Keynesian’ results: during slumps, low interest rates, money growth and additional expenditure (not necessarily government expenditure) can heal the economy and lower unemployment without inflationary consequences. The name ‘New-Keynesian’ is however a double travesty. Not because prices aren’t sticky (many are) or … Continue reading
US – Fast-food workers walking off their jobs in 150 cities
Fast-food workers are expected to walk off their jobs in 150 cities from Oakland to Orlando. The protests will be a first for fast-food workers in Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia and Sacramento. The events are intended to publicize the employees’ demand for a $15-an-hour wage. The median pay nationwide for fast-food restaurant workers is $8.69 an … Continue reading
Labour market reforms in Italy
Italy’s labour market productivity has been stagnating in the past decade despite numerous reforms. This column gives an explanation why this is so. By focusing exclusively on flexibility, past labour market reforms have completely neglected incentives. There is severe allocative malfunctioning in the Italian labour market. Wages do not reflect sector productivity in the short … Continue reading
Walmart Employees – Would be better if they could go to another company and another job and make more money and develop says Bill Simon, CEO
“Some people took those jobs because they were the only ones available and haven’t been able to figure out how to move out of that,” Bill Simon, CEO of Wal-Mart U.S., acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press. If Wal-Mart employees “can go to another company and another job and make more money and … Continue reading
Canada / Men who had obtained a bachelor’s degree by 1991 had earned $732,000 more than those whose education ended at a high school diploma, women$ 448,000
A new study that followed a group of men and women for two decades reports that over the study period, men who had obtained a bachelor’s degree by 1991 had earned, on average, $732,000 more than those whose education ended at a high school diploma. For women, the difference between the two groups was $448,000. Using longitudinal tax … Continue reading
Minimum Wage Increase in US / The CBO’s estimates of the effects on employment and family income
Increasing the minimum wage would have two principal effects on low-wage workers. Most of them would receive higher pay that would increase their family’s income, and some of those families would see their income rise above the federal poverty threshold. But some jobs for low-wage workers would probably be eliminated, the income of most workers … Continue reading
Canada / Increases in immigration level bring immigrants real wages down
The annual level of immigration is one of the most critical components of a country’s immigration policy. It is difficult to directly compare the costs and benefits of changing immigration levels because immigration can serve multiple goals. However, some narrowly-defined effects can be empirically assessed. This study considers solely the potential influence of immigration levels … Continue reading
US / Long-term unemployment has less impact on the behavior of wages study says
How tight is the labor market? The unemployment rate is down substantially from its October 2009 peak, but two-thirds of the decline is due to people dropping out of the labor force. In addition, an unusually large share of the unemployed has been out of work for twenty-seven weeks or more—the long-duration unemployed. These statistics … Continue reading
US / Was NAFTA good for workers ?
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NATFA) was the door through which American workers were shoved into the neoliberal global labor market. By establishing the principle that U.S. corporations could relocate production elsewhere and sell back into the United States, NAFTA undercut the bargaining power of American workers, which had driven the expansion of the … Continue reading
Outsourcing at US airport / 26 percent in 2011 says a report
According to the study, this trend poses problems for workers, the communities surrounding airports and the flying public Continue reading
Higher Education in US / It Pays, but a lot more for some graduates than for others
As they enter the labor market, some graduates earn far more than others. Prospective students need sound information about where their educational choices are likely to lead Continue reading
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