15.03.2011
Policy Points
From the Economic Policy Institute’s analysis of the January version of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) …
The total number of job openings in January was 2.8 million. The total number of unemployed workers was 13.9 million (unemployment data are from the Current Population Survey). The ratio of unemployed workers to job openings was thus 5.0-to-1 in January, unchanged from the revised December ratio. January marks 23 months that the “job seeker’s ratio” has been at or above 5-to-1. By comparison, the highest it got in the early 2000s downturn was 2.8-to-1. A job seeker’s ratio of 5-to-1 means that for 4 out of 5 unemployed workers, there simply are no jobs.
15.03.2011
Policy Points
E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post explains why the United States isn’t “broke” and how that idea is used to push certain policy agendas that may not be liked by the public.
Precisely. A phony metaphor is being used to hijack the nation’s political conversation and skew public policies to benefit better-off Americans and hurt most others.
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We have an 8.9 percent unemployment rate, yet further measures to spur job creation are off the table. We’re broke, you see. We have a $15 trillion economy, yet we pretend to be an impoverished nation with no room for public investments in our future or efforts to ease the pain of a deep recession on those Americans who didn’t profit from it or cause it in the first place.
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As Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) pointed out in a little-noticed but powerful speech on the economy in December, “during the past 20 years, 56 percent of all income growth went to the top 1 percent of households. Even more unbelievably, a third of all income growth went to just the top one-tenth of 1 percent.” Some people are definitely not broke, yet we can’t even think about raising their taxes.
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By contrast, Franken noted that “when you adjust for inflation, the median household income actually declined over the last decade.” Many of those folks are going broke, yet because “we’re broke,” we’re told we can’t possibly help them.
14.03.2011
Policy Points
Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:
14.03.2011
In the News, Policy Points
South by North Strategies’ analysis of the latest employment report for North Carolina appeared in a wide array of media outlets.
14.03.2011
Policy Points
A recent policy brief from the Center for Law and Social Policy reviews the impacts that selected provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have had on low-income workers and families. Below are summaries of two provisions of interest to readers of Policy Points.
The Workforce Investment Act
The Recovery Act provided $2.95 billion for the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Adult, Youth and Dislocated Worker employment and training programs, including $500 million for Adults, $1.25 billion for Dislocated Workers and $1.2 billion for summer jobs and youth activities. The legislation boosted the level of training and services to those affected by the recession and set new policy priorities.
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Effects for Adults: More than 8 million adults and dislocated workers received a range of employment and training services in 2009-2010.1 More than two-thirds (69.6 percent) of adults and more than three-2quarters (75.6 percent) of dislocated workers who entered education and training landed jobs, despite a difficult labor market.
Unemployment Insurance
The Recovery Act expanded and extended unemployment insurance benefits for individuals who lost jobs through no fault of their own during a deep economic recession. Individuals who exhausted regular state benefits (typically after 26 weeks) were eligible for a federally funded extension of benefits. In addition, a $25 weekly benefit was made available to all individuals receiving regular state benefits. As a result of the Recovery Act enhancements, 1.3 million Americans did not fall below the poverty line during 2009.
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The Recovery Act also provided up to $7 billion in incentive payments for state adoption of laws expanding access to benefits for low-wage workers, part-time workers and workers who leave jobs for compelling family reasons, such as domestic violence. More than 200,000 additional unemployed workers are likely to have access to the unemployment insurance system as a result of the Recovery Act provisions.
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