Category Archives: Economics

US unemployment at lowest since 2008 – but young people still can’t find work


On Friday, the jobless rate dropped to 5.5%, the lowest in seven years. But youth unemployment is rising – and some young people need all the help they can get

Continue reading US unemployment at lowest since 2008 – but young people still can’t find work

Middle Class Economics: Josh Barro nails some critical points | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

Josh Barro does an excellent job describing many of the key points about the challenges of crafting what politicians are calling “middle-class economics.” As I see it, they’re talking about policies that reconnect overall economic growth and the prosperity of the middle class. Though median household incomes have been rising in recent years, as best we can tell, they’re still down 1.5% in real terms over the recovery and about 3% below their pre-recession peak (these are not gov’t data; they come from the private firm Sentier Research). Meanwhile real GDP’s up 14%, corporate profitability is up about 50%, and equity markets have about doubled in real terms. Continue reading Middle Class Economics: Josh Barro nails some critical points | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

On Doug Belkin: Test Finds College Graduates Lack Skills for White-Collar Jobs

By DOUGLAS BELKIN
Updated Jan. 16, 2015

Four in 10 U.S. college students graduate without the complex reasoning skills to manage white-collar work, according to the results of a test of nearly 32,000 students.

Continue reading On Doug Belkin: Test Finds College Graduates Lack Skills for White-Collar Jobs

Defining Secular Stagnation | Economics

When we think of economic downturns, we generally think of them as flat up or down. We are all familiar with terms like recession. That is what we are now very slowly getting out of. We know, from our parents and grandparents, what the utter devastation of a depression is. We know, from our most recent experience, the Great Recession, what that feels like. Some months back, a term was added to the economic conversation: secular stagnation. Though the concept isn’t a new one, it has recently been reintroduced. Continue reading Defining Secular Stagnation | Economics