Failing on Two Fronts: The U.S. Labor Market Since 2000

John Schmitt

CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs from Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)

Abstract: This report argues that a key driver in rising inequality and a decline in the employment to population ratio is conscious economic policy, with a particularly important and under-appreciated role for macroeconomic policy. The paper first demonstrates the remarkable “flexibility” of U.S. labor markets relative to the situation in other rich economies. The paper then links this policy-induced flexibility to high and rising inequality and shows that such flexibility ceased long ago to contribute --if it ever did-- to greater job creation.

Keywords: jobs; employment; labor market; inequality; economic policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J J2 J3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2015-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mfd
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epo:papers:2015-05

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