Job-Related News

December 3, 2021

December 3, 2021, p. 5, BLS: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Impact on June 2021 Establishment and Household Survey Data “Since March 2020, BLS has published an estimate of what the unemployment rate might have been had misclassified workers been included among the unemployed. Repeating this same approach, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in November 2021 would have been 0.1 percentage point higher than reported. However, this represents the upper bound of our estimate of misclassification and probably overstates the size of the misclassification error.”

Unemployment data–November 2021 graphs: CBPP Chart Book Tracking the Post-Great Recession Economy Top Charts of 2020 EPI State of U.S. Workers on Labor Day-charts

Baker CEPR 12/3/2021 “The drop in the unemployment rate went along with an increase in the employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) of 0.4 percentage points, corresponding to a rise in employment of more than 1.1 million in the household survey. The unemployment rate had not fallen this low following the Great Recession until September 2017…..employers are increasing hours since they are unable to hire new workers. We are seeing a reshuffling of the labor market where workers are looking for better jobs and employers are competing to attract workers, especially in lower paying sectors. Nearly every demographic group saw a drop in unemployment in November, but the falls were largest for the groups that face labor market discrimination [not Black youth-jz]…..The average hourly pay of production workers is up 5.9 percent year-over-year…..Wages for the lowest paid workers are far outpacing inflation…..The economy looks to be very strong as long as another surge in the pandemic doesn’t derail it.”

EPI jobs blog, 11/5/21 “Overall, payroll job gains were 210,00 in November (seasonally adjusted), but when we look at the non-seasonally adjusted series, we see gains of 778,000. This means the BLS makes a seasonal adjustment downwards in November to smooth the series, likely related to holiday hiring. — Elise Gould (@eliselgould) December 3, 2021 And 3.9 MILLION workers are out of the labor force as a result of COVID (as in: if the LFPR hadn’t dropped since Feb 2020, there would be 3.9 million more people in the labor force). Counting those folks and others who are misclassified, the unemp rate would be 6.6%. 8/ — Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) December 3, 2021

Bartash, Marketwatch 12/3/21 “The U.S. gained a paltry 210,000 new jobs in November even though businesses took more aggressive hiring steps, marking a disappointing increase that shows the worst labor shortage in decades is still a drag on the economic recovery…..“Consistent with low jobless claims and record-low layoff announcements, labor shortages are only worsening,” said senior economist Sal Guatieri of BMO Capital Markets…..In another encouraging sign, the size of the labor force grew substantially…..An unusually higher number of people retired during the pandemic and millions more are still too anxious to return to work. They fear exposure to the coronavirus or worry they might have to stay home to care for their children, especially if new strains of the coronavirus emerge and shut down schools again. ”

Casselman NYT 12/3/21 “In November… the labor force grew by nearly 600,000 people — the biggest gain in more than a year — and the number of Americans reporting that they were working rose by more than 1.1 million, according to a Labor Department report released Friday. Those big gains might be confusing given that the same report showed that employers added just 210,000 jobs in November, less than half as many as in October and far below forecasters’ expectations. The seeming paradox can be explained by the fact that the two sets of numbers come from separate surveys: one of employers and one of households. Over time, the two data sources usually tell relatively consistent stories about the job market. But they sometimes diverge over shorter periods, because of differences in what they measure and errors inherent in any survey.”

Zero Hedge 12/3/21 “Additionally, as Bloomberg notes, the key metric in the household survey aside from the headline unemployment rate — the prime working-age (25-54) employment-to-population ratio — jumped by half a percentage point last month, marking the strongest advance since July. At 78.8%, there’s still ground to cover to return to the pre-pandemic level of 80.5%, but if we keep going at this rate, we’ll be there sometime next year.”

Baker, CEPR 5/10/21 Are Those $300 Weekly Supplements Making It Impossible for Employers to Get Good Help? To be eligible they have to be laid off, and it has to be for economic reasons…..The other point is that workers receiving benefits have to be actively looking for work. If they turn down a job comparable to the one they lost, they lose their benefits. One feature that has been extraordinary in this recession is that a very large share of the unemployed report being on temporary layoffs…..if an employer calls a worker back to work, they lose their benefits if they do not go back…..Fortunately, we do not have to just speculate on how workers behave; we have actual data. Three separate studies examined the impact of the original supplements in the CARES Act passed at the start of April 2020.”‘We Need to Stop Taking Employers’ Viewpoint as Gospel’ CounterSpin interview with Michael Hiltzik on ‘nobody wants to work!’ Jackson, FAIR 5/21

Lee Carter, twitter 11/5/21 “When the Biden administration says unemployment is low, they’re just not counting millions of long term unemployed people. They’re literally just pretending the problem doesn’t exist. The last time labor force participation was this low, Jimmy Carter was President.”

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

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.

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 recovered its pre-crisis level, in fact, has now plunged. 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

Worker Rights and Wages Policy Watch, EPI

Blue Collar Jobs Tracker, CEPR

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, Levy 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