Job-Related News

September 1, 2023

Unemployment data–August 2023 Charts Related to BLS Employment Release Tracking the Post-Great Recession Economy: CBPP Chart Book [from pandemic recession] Top Charts of 2022 EPI

Baker, CEPR 9/1/2023 “This large of a jump [in unemployment of 0.3%] would ordinarily be serious grounds for concern, but it was driven by an extraordinary 736,000 one-month rise in the size of the labor force….. The rise in unemployment was entirely driven by an extraordinary reported jump in the size of the labor force. This is undoubtedly partly real, but almost certainly also partly an error in the survey, as well as a fluke of seasonal adjustment. In any case, if we look at the 222k employment growth reported in the household survey, it is difficult to see that coinciding with continuing rises in unemployment…..This report also should be good news in that it is showing slightly slower wage growth and also a pace of hours growth suggesting another quarter of good productivity growth. This should alleviate the Fed’s fears about inflation. ”

EPI jobs blog, 9/1/23: “August jobs report shows a steady labor market187,000 jobs added as labor force participation rate climbs Labor market report this morning is mostly positive: Payrolls up 187k, still pulling people in off the sidelines every month– Increase in unemployment due to rise in participation; employment rate held steady– Black unemployment ticked down– Wage growth 4.3% year over year” Elise Gould (@eliselgould)

Decker, The Conversation, 9/1/23 “Jobs are up, wages less so – and lower purchasing power could still lead the US into a recession: Don’t be overly fooled by seemingly rosy jobs data heading into the Labor Day weekend…..While jobs were up, so too was the unemployment rate, which ticked up a modest 0.3% from July to 3.8%. And average hourly earnings increased by just 0.2% in the month to US$33.82 – working out to a rather paltry 8 cent increase. To me, rather than indicating that the job market is moving along at a healthy clip, as some suggest, it shows signs of something else: a continuing slowdown…..when it comes to the chances of recession, the economy is not quite out of the woods yet. True, inflation is trending down. But earnings have generally grown slower than inflation, resulting in a loss of purchasing power for consumers.”

Bartash, Marketwatch 9/1/23 “A recent slowdown in inflation and evidence of a cooling labor market could keep the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates again anytime soon. ….Senior officials Fed officials say the increase in hiring needs to slow to 75,000 to 100,000 new jobs a month to ease the worst labor shortage since World War Two and help reduce inflation…..Whatever the case, the labor market does appear to be losing some of its mojo. The number of industries hiring has shrunk this year, for one thing. And job openings have also fallen to a 28-month low. Not only that, but hiring was much weaker in the prior two months, updated figures show. The government lowered its estimate of job gains in July to 157,000 from 187,000. The increase in employment in June was also knocked down to a more than two-and-a-half year low of 105,000 from 185,000…..Big picture: The labor market has cooled off, but an acute worker shortage is still keeping wage growth elevated and adding to upward pressure on inflation…..’The Fed got its dream jobs report with cooler labor demand, more labor supply, and slower wage growth,’ said chief economist Bill Adams of Comerica.”

DePillis, NYT 9/1/23 “The data …is the latest indication that hiring has weakened over the summer. After a run of 29 months in which job growth never dipped below 200,000, seasonally adjusted, the last three months have all fallen short of that mark…..Still, there is no sign of an imminent recession that would result in widespread joblessness, and the August gain was still significantly above the number of jobs required to absorb flow of people into the labor force. Hourly earnings rose 4.3 percent over the month, slightly less than expected, and mostly level with the pace of wage growth since the spring. The recent hiring figures are subject to further revision, but the generally smooth downward trend is a sign that while the labor market isn’t as hot as it was during the height of the pandemic recovery, it may be stabilizing in a better place than it was before 2020…..Education and health services continue to dominate job creation, contributing more than half the total growth in August.”

ZeroHedge 9/1/23: “…while moments ago we got a number which was at least nominally stronger than expected, the report in general was weak enough to suggest that – as we expected – the wheels are finally coming off the US labor market (as this week’s JOLTS [job vacancy] report strongly hinted)….every single monthly payrolls print in 20-23 has been revised lower….The data is even uglier if one looks at the composition because in August, the number of full-time workers tumbled by 85K. Add that to the 585K full time jobs lost in July and you get a whopping 670K full-time jobs lost. This however has been “offset” by 1 million part-time jobs gains.”

American Capitalism Has Produced Its Most Remarkable Innovation Yet: Breadlines Savage, Jacobin 5/23 “As one commentator succinctly put it: ‘1) Too many people have jobs so the [Federal Reserve] raises rates to boost unemployment in the name of taming inflation. 2) People lose their jobs, making them need food stamps. 3) Politicians demand those same people get jobs to be eligible for food stamps, but the jobs are now harder to get.'” See a Bloomberg report on lines at food banks. One such line outside a Boston Red Cross facility “stretched the length of two football fields.”

Bivens, EPI 8/21 The promise and limits of high-pressure labor markets for narrowing racial gaps. This paper explores the promise and limits of high-pressure labor markets in reducing racial labor market gaps and how too-slack labor markets have helped thwart progress in closing the gaps. It then draws lessons from these investigations for policymakers.

Bivens & Shierholz, EPI 12/18 What labor market changes have generated inequality and wage suppression?

Equitable Growth Research showing rising mortality rates among white Americans suggests that increasing economic insecurity for this group may play a role in increasing mortality. New research shows that one form of insecurity—higher unemployment rates—is strongly associated with higher opioid death rates. The paper, … a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, looks at the connection between unemployment and opioid abuse.

The EMRATIO [the ratio of employed to the the civilian noninstitutional population aged 16 years and over] that is employed.has not fully recovered its pre-crisis level. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?graph_id=453007#0

Labor force participation rate [labor force as a % of civilian noninstitutional population] recovery since the recession by age, Fed. Res., St Louis. Note: except for those 55 and over, labor force participation rates have not yet recovered pre-crisis levels. 9/19 data. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?graph_id=316679#0

Full-time workers: http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea06.htm

Many older workers have difficult jobs that put them at risk Working longer is not a viable solution to the retirement crisis, Morrissey, EPI 5/23

Worker Rights and Wages Policy Watch, EPI

Blue Collar Jobs Tracker, CEPR

Why Criminal Justice Reform Is Becoming a Corporate Priority, Maddox DMag. 9/23

New Data on Formerly Incarcerated People’s Employment Reveal Labor Market Injustices, Wang & Bertram, Prison Policy Initiative 9/22

The impact of the Raise the Wage Act of 2023, Zipperer, EPI 7/23

Sick Workers Tied to 40% of Food Poisoning Outbreaks, C.D.C. Says, NY Times 6/23

Could 300,000 Job Openings Be Fake? Here’s Why Goldman Thinks They Might Be, Saul, Forbes 5/23

Racial Differences in Unemployment Insurance, Ananat & Gassman-Pines, EconoFact 4/23

Employment of “People with a Disability” Spiked to Record in Hot Labor Market, Richter, Wolf Street 2/3/23

Union membership rate 10.1% in 2022, down from 10.3% in 2021, but numbers up 1/23

Workplace Fatalities Hit Highest Rate Since 2016, Wells, Mfgnet 12/22

As Fed Pushes to ‘Get Wages Down,’ Study Shows CEO Pay Has Soared by 1,460% Since 1978 Workers pay rose by 18.1% between 1978 and 2021, Johnson, Common Dreams, 10/22

On the Clock and Tracked to the Minute, Kantor & Sundaram, NYT 8/15/22 “Offline work–doing math problems…reading printouts, thinking–didn’t register…”

Black Youth: More Likely to Need a Job, Less Likely to Get One, CEPR 8/22

Most Price Increases from Inflation Have Gone to Corporate Profits The inflation panic is causing some Democrats to pivot from social spending to deficit reduction. That’s exactly the wrong approach.Max B. Sawicky / In These Times 5/22

Botched policy responses to globalization have decimated manufacturing employment with often overlooked costs for … workers of color, Scott etal, EPI 1/22

Union membership resumes its fall, Henwood, 1/22

Record number of minimum wage increases set for 2022, Gonzalez, Axios 12/21

The Great Escape The most vulnerable people in America have started the closest thing we’ve seen in a century to a general strike. Dayen, TAP 11/21

A record number of workers are quitting their jobs, empowered by new leverage Rosenberg, Wash.Post, 10/21

Quantifying the Impact of the Fight for $15: $150 Billion in Raises for 26 Million Workers…, Lathrop, Lester, & Wilson, NELP 7/21

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Counted Only Eight Strikes in 2020, Payday Report Counted 1,200, Leon & Elk, INET 7/21

Reforming unemployment insurance, EPI 6/21

American workers are quitting at the highest rate in decades, Fernholz, Quartz 6/21

Identifying the policy levers generating wage suppression and wage inequality, Mishel & Bivens, EPI 5/21

Is Unemployment Insurance Behind the Fast-Food Labor Shortage? In reality, it’s the low pay and abysmal working conditions, Sainato, TAP 5/21

Covid Is Hitting Workers Differently Than the Financial Crisis, Fazzari & Needler 4/21

The Black-White Wage Gap Is as Big as It Was in 1950, Leonhardt, NYT 6/20

Bosses in the US Have Far Too Much Power to Lay Off Workers Whenever They Feel Like It, Sheehan, Jacobin, 6/20

Obsession With Fraud Sabotages U.S. Aid to Millions Without Jobs, Kochkodin, 5/20 Bloomberg

Replacing workers has many costs, Carleton, Conversation 4/20

You’re the Real Job Creator: An interview with Stephanie Kelton, N+1 4/20

What the historically low U.S. unemployment rate means for women workers, Cumming, Equitable Growth, 3/20

The Robots Are Not Coming, Henwood, Jacobin 2/20

Low-wage work is more pervasive than you think” Ross & Bateman, Brookings, 11/19

Labor Historian Staughton Lynd’s Book Is Embraced by Google Workers and Uber Drivers, 10/19

The Military-Industrial Jobs Scam, Tomgram: Harris, Stimpson, and Freeman, 8/19

Black workers are being left behind by full employment, Perry, Brookings 6/19

Want to decrease suicide? Raise the minimum wage, researchers suggest, Cerullo, CBS News, 4/19

The Bogus Justification for Worker Non-Compete Clauses, Vaheesan, On Labor 4/19

Major Work Stoppages in 2018, BLS 2/19

Updated employment multipliers for the U.S. economy, Bivens, EPI 1/19

“…one new manufacturing job in the U.S. results in 7.4 new jobs in other industries. Whereas one new retail job creates just 1.2 new jobs.The only two industries with higher indirect job losses are utilities (9.6 to 1) and real estate and rental leasing (8.8 to 1).” J. Bivens, EPI GRAPHIC 1/19

How shareholder profits conquered capitalism – and how workers can win back its benefits for themselves, Brennan, Conversation, 10/18

Standards Go Out The Window As Employers Struggle To Fill Jobs, Dunkley, SafeHaven 8/18

Anti-Union Measure in Missouri Loses by Massive Margin, Baker, CEPR 8/18

Mystery of the Underpaid American Worker, Lindorff, Counterpunch 8/18

Huge Increase in Large Work Stoppages Seen in 2018, Dirnbach, Medium, 7/18

The economy is hot, yet many U.S. workers feel left behind. A new report sheds some light, Van Dam, Wash Post, 7/18

“In total, RTW laws have led to a 14.2% increase in occupational mortality through decreased unionisation.” Does ‘right to work’ imperil the right to health? The effect of labour unions on workplace fatalities, Zoorob Occup. Envir. Med. 6/18

Disability applications plunge as the economy strengthens, Schwartz, CNBC 6/18

Grand Theft Paycheck: wage theft is pervasive in Corporate America. Good Jobs First, 6/18

Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements —MAY 2017, BLS 6/18

Report on the Economic Well-Being of US Households in 2017, FRS 5/18

The fuzzy line between “unemployed” and “not in the labor force” and what it means for job creation strategies and the Federal Reserve, Bivens, EPI 3/18

Why Are Prime-Age Men Vanishing from the Labor Force? Prime-age men are increasingly vanishing from the labor force, due in part to job polarization.. Tusemen, FRB-KC, 2/18

Black Lung Disease Comes Storming Back in Coal Country, Popovich, NYT 2/18

Federal investigators this month identified the largest cluster of advanced black lung cases ever officially recorded.

Medicaid Work Requirement Would Harm Unemployed, Not Promote Work, Katch, CBPP 1/18

Seattle’s $15 Minimum Wage Experiment Is a Success, 1/18

Union membership rate, at 10.7%, is unchanged in 2017, BLS 1/18

German workers strike for right to two-year, 28-hour working week: metalwork union’s campaign to improve work-life balance, 1/18

Minimum wage hikes in 18 states set for new year, The Hill, 1/18

Employment Hysteresis from the Great Recession, Yagan NBER 9/17

Employment in Europe and the US: the EU’s remarkable strength, Darvas & Pichler, Bruegel 9/17

Where Have All the Workers Gone? An Inquiry into the Decline of the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate, Krueger, Brookings 9/17

How today’s unions help working people: Giving workers the power to improve their jobs and unrig the economy, Bivens et al, EPI 8/17

US Opioid Use Linked To Unemployment, Moreno, ibtimes, 8/17 NBER study

New Report Finds Corporate Tax Cuts Boost CEO Pay, Not Jobs, Anderson, IPS 8/17

Macroeconomic Conditions and Opioid Abuse, Hollingsworth et al, NBER 2/17

Why I Dissented, Kashkari explains his vote at FOMC 3/17

‘Superstar Firms’ May Have Shrunk Workers’ Share of Income, Cohen, NYT 3/17

Falling Labor Force Participation: Demographics or Lack of Jobs? Dantas & Wray 2/17

Union membership rate in 2016 is 10.7%, down from 11.1% in 2015 BLS, 1/17 CEPR

Economic Realities in America: By The Numbers, Pearle ABC News 1/17

Happy Holidays, You’re Fired: List of Companies Laying People Off, McIntyre 24/7 Wall St. 12/16

American Marriage in the Time of the Recession, Campbell, Atlantic 11/16

The U.S. Job Recovery Is a Global Laggard, Kocherlakota, Bloomberg, 10/16

Happy Labor Day! There Has Never Been a Middle Class Without Strong Unions, Schwarz, Intercept 9/16

The State of the Unions 2016: A Profile of Organized Labor in NYC, NYS, & the US, Milkman and Luce, Murphy Ctr for Worker Education, 9/16

Black Workers, Unions, and Inequality Bucknor, CEPR 8/16

When workers don’t get paid sick days, everyone else is more likely to get sick, Paquette, Wash. Post, 8/16

‘Middle class’ used to denote comfort and security. Not anymore Quart, Guardian 7/16

“There are three main reasons the vaunted economic recovery still feels false to so many. The first is the labor participation rate, which plunged at the start of the Great Recession and discounts the millions of Americans who have been out of work for six months or more. The second is “the 1099 economy,” … the soaring number of temps, contractors, freelancers, and other often involuntarily self-employed workers. The third is a surge in low-wage service jobs, coupled with a corresponding decrease in middle-class jobs.” Why America’s impressive 5% unemployment rate feels like a lie for so many Kendzior, Quartz 4/16

Business Leaders Have Abandoned the Middle Class, Haque, HBR, 6/16

Producing Poverty: The Public Cost of Low-Wage Production Jobs in Manufacturing Berkeley Labor Ctr 5/16

Report of 10,000 severe workplace injuries might be only half the problem, Wash. Post, 3/16

The missing puzzle piece of the global economic recovery is finally falling into place, Bird 6/15

State, Met. Area Employment and Unemployment Data, BLS

The Missing Piece of the Global Recovery

Interactive map: Unemployment rates by state, BLS

International Labor Comparisons, BLS

At Amazon.com “cheap” comes at a very hefty price, Hightower 8/14

Report Uncovers the Real Costs of Outsourcing Public Services, JwJ 3/14

Do You Have Job Fear? What’s Why We Need Full Employment, Johnson CAF 8/13

Millions of Americans live in extreme poverty, Matthews, 5/13