Job-Related News

December 4, 2022

Unemployment data–November 2022 Tracking the Post-Great Recession Economy: CBPP Chart Book [from pandemic recession] Top Charts of 2021 EPI

Baker, CEPR 12/2/2022 “The annual rate of wage growth over the last three months was 5.1 percent, the same as the rate over the last year….Lower paid workers have seen the most rapid wage growth through the pandemic recession and recovery. That continues to be the case….Most sectors showed strong job growth in November, in spite of the Fed’s efforts to slow the economy…..This report is a mix of good and bad news. The good news is that the economy is continuing to add jobs at a very rapid pace and that unemployment continues to be near 50-year lows, with some demographic groups seeing their lowest unemployment rate on record. The bad news is that … we are still seeing a pace of wage growth that is more rapid than would be consistent with the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target. This likely means that it will continue on its path of aggressive rate hikes for the near future.”

EPI jobs blog, 12/2/22 EPI Staff: “November jobs report a tale of two conflicting surveys. Payroll survey shows steady job growth, but household survey shows a continued decline in employment….. The payroll survey—a survey of employers—showed 263,000 jobs added in November, but the household survey showed a decline in employment. When the two surveys conflict it may indicate a turning point in the business cycle. The unemployment rate is holding steady—solidly below 4%—but participation has declined for the last four months and employment has declined for the last three, according to the household survey.” Elise Gould “The household survey tends to pick up “inflection points” quicker than the establishment survey, for methodological reasons. So, it’s possible that the household survey is picking up a downturn that is not yet showing up in the establishment survey. Time will tell…..The overall numbers mask big disparities for different groups. Due to the impact of structural racism on the labor market, people of color have much higher unemp rates than white workers.” Heidi Shierholz

Bartash, Marketwatch 12/2/22 “The demand for labor is still strong,” said chief economist Steve Blitz of TS Lombard. ‘It’s still putting upward pressure on wages.’….The tough medicine, senior Fed officials figure, is likely to lift the unemployment rate to as high as 5% by 2023. Some Wall Street analysts believe the jobless rate will go even higher if a recession takes hold, as many are forecasting. Higher borrowing costs slow growth by depressing consumer spending and business investment, the two key pillars of the economy….The lack of people looking for work is another big factor contributing to the labor shortage…..Looking ahead: ‘Job creation continues to top expectations, holding the unemployment rate near half-century lows,’ said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. ‘The Fed may be closing in on a point that the pace of rate hikes could be stepped down, but the combination of tight labor markets and stubbornly elevated inflation leaves policymakers with a clear directive: keep tightening.'”

DePillis, Smialek, Tankersley NYT 12/2/22 “The labor market has been surprisingly resilient in the face of successive interest rate increases by the Fed, adding an average of 323,000 jobs for the last six months. But economists found reasons for concern in the evidence that growth is now largely coming from service sectors like education, health care and hospitality, which powered November’s job gains. Hiring in industries most sensitive to rising borrowing costs, like construction and manufacturing, started to level off, and workers put in fewer hours during the average week. ….While other sources of inflation — including supply chain issues and rapidly rising rents — appear poised to dissipate in 2023, an imbalance between job openings and available workers persists…..Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, highlighted service industry inflation and its links to the labor market…“This may be the most important category for understanding the future evolution of core inflation,” Mr. Powell said of the set of services that covers things including health care, haircuts and hospitality…..Fed officials have struck a firmer tone, making it clear that pay gains will need to come down in order for them to be confident that inflation is under control.”

Richter, WOLF STREET 12/2/22 “The Jobs Report in Light of what Powell Said: The Fed Cannot Create Supply of Labor, But it Can Slow the Demand for Labor: The labor force – people who either have jobs or are actively looking for jobs – is still the key problem: It dipped further and remains far below pre-pandemic trend. This is the supply of labor. …remains stunningly far below pre-pandemic trend. In other words, the labor force, after growing for decades, stopped growing once it bounced back from the pandemic lows…..The labor force participation rate – the labor force as a percent of the working-age population 16 years and older – dipped for the third month in a row to 62.1%. It has gone backwards this year….In his speech, Powell discussed two categories of reasons responsible for most of this “shortfall” of about 3.5 million people in the labor force: excess retirements and slower growth in the working-age population.”

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 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

Worker Rights and Wages Policy Watch, EPI

Blue Collar Jobs Tracker, CEPR

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, 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