Job-Related News

October 7, 2022

Unemployment data–September 2022 Tracking the Post-Great Recession Economy: CBPP Chart Book Top Charts of 2021 EPI State of U.S. Workers on Labor Day-charts

Baker, CEPR 10/7/2022 “The September employment report showed the labor market remains strong, however, wage growth appears to be moderating. The unemployment rate edged back down to 3.5 percent, its lowest level in the last half-century. Despite this strength, wage growth was just 0.3 percent in September, the same as in August. This is a pace that would be consistent with the Fed’s 2.0 percent inflation target. ….The Black unemployment rate fell to 5.8 percent in September, reversing recent rises and tying for the low point in the recovery. The unemployment rate for Black teens fell to 12.7 percent, the second lowest ever, and lower than any pre-pandemic level. The unemployment rate for Hispanics fell to 3.8 percent, the lowest rate on record…..The share of unemployment due to people voluntarily quitting their jobs rose to 15.9 percent. This is a clear measure of labor market strength, indicating that people are still optimistic about their job prospects…..In the same vein, all the duration measures of unemployment fell…..The Fed will not be prepared to declare victory over inflation with this report, but it does show that things are going in the right direction, with jobs growing at a strong but close to a sustainable pace.”

EPI jobs blog, 10/7/22 EPI Staff: “Labor market strong, but cooling in September Public-sector employment continues to falter The unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in September, back to where it was in July, mostly for the “wrong” reasons as labor force participation declined. Two-thirds of the decline in the unemployment rate was due to the drop in the labor force and one-third from increased employment…..The private sector keeps chugging along while the public sector is faltering…..The private sector keeps chugging along while the public sector is faltering.” @eliselgould

Bartash, Marketwatch 10/7/22 “The increase in new jobs in September fell to a 17-month low of 263,000 due to labor shortages and waning demand for workers as talk of recession grows, but it was still too strong for a Federal Reserve bent on slowing the economy and tackling high inflation. The increase in hiring, while still strong historically, was the smallest since April 2021…..Many economists even predict a recession will take place next year and Fed officials won’t rule one out…..One of the Fed’s big worries is rising wages spurred on by the tightest labor market in modern times. Higher wages could feed into inflation and make it harder to rein in. ….The Fed is expected to keep raising rates until inflation starts to fall rapidly and the mismatch between too few workers and too many open jobs eases up…..Big picture: Just two months ago, the U.S. finally recovered all the 22 million jobs lost during the pandemic. Now it faces a fresh challenge from a weakening economy.”

Ember, Smialek, Rennison, Simonetti NYT 10/7/22 “For months, job growth defied expectations, as employers continued to add workers despite increased borrowing costs. More recently, there have been indications that employers are beginning to rein in hiring…..While a slight slowdown in hiring in the latest report offered another signal to both investors and policymakers that the Fed’s efforts to slow the economy and lower inflation through higher interest rates were having an effect, it was balanced against a fall in the unemployment rate and a sense that the jobs market remains relatively robust.”

ZeroHedge, 10/7/22 “…while the payrolls number and the wage growth were both boring, what traders focused on was the ongoing collapse in the unemployment rate, which unexpectedly tumbled to 3.5% from 3.7%, well below expectations of an unchanged print. This was the result of a ~250K drop in unemployed workers, which slumped from just over 6 million to 5.753 million, even as the civilian labor force remained roughly unchanged (down to 164.689 million in Sept from 164.746 million in August). This was the data piece that gives the hawks the most ammunition; the underemployment rate dropped to 6.7% from 7% indicating less slack in the labor force…..Of particular note here is the sharp collapse in both hispanic and black unemployment: among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Hispanics decreased to 3.8% in September, while that for Blacks tumbled to 5.8%, bringing the differential between it and the broader unemp rate to one of the lowest ever. How can the unemployment rate keep falling when the Fed is already crushing the economy? Well, as Alan Ruskin of Deutsche Bank pointed out earlier this week, the modern history of Fed tightening shows it takes quite some time for the job market to weaken after a tightening cycle begins. The current lack of progress in slowing things down isn’t unusual. He found that in eight out of nine significant hiking cycles going back to the 1970s, the unemployment rate was actually lower one year after the Fed started hiking.”

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

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