The January employment numbers, released today by the U.S. Department of Labor, present mixed evidence about the state of the labor market. While the unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent, payrolls were just better than flat, increasing by only 36,000 jobs last month. Much attention is given to the official unemployment rate, which is certainly…

The Great Recession left a crater in the labor market that has been devastating for unemployed Americans of all ages. After more than two years of unemployment at well over 8%, there is a hole of more than 11 million jobs, with average spells of unemployment lasting nearly nine months. The weak labor market has been particularly tough on young…

The author examines some of the complexities involved in trying to answer the question: jobs or productivity? human labor or machines? She discusses calculation of labor intensity, Australian statistics on the subject, trends in productivity, and institutional discouragement of labor intensity. (CT)

Demonstrates the dramatic difference in labor force descriptions resulting from use of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' measure labelled U-7 rather than U-5, the official measure. U-7 includes both discouraged workers and involuntary part-time workers. U-7 is the more appropriate index for accurately picturing many parts of rural America. (DHP)

In recent years the economy of the Dominican Republic has experienced rapid growth without reducing urban unemployment. The research project measured the relationship between growth and employment, examining the behavior of factors affecting labor demand and supply. Available from: ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH-1211, Geneva,…

This article discusses international migration as an economic and political concern, comments on recent literature dealing with social aspects of migration, and introduces the articles which follow in this special journal issue dedicated to Caribbean migration to New York. (MC)

It is argued that policies tolerating higher levels of joblessness for workers generally, and for disadvantaged workers in particular, are based on tenuous job search rationales and inflation expectationist fears. The old weapons of fiscal and monetary stimulation to stabilize income and unemployment are required, together with new strategies to…

About three-quarters of current unemployment in these countries is due to deficient labor force demand. Changes in economic policy and improvement in labor mobility are necessary elements in solving the problem. (Author/SK)

THIS SAMPLING OF COLLECTED TESTIMONY WAS INTENDED TO ILLUSTRATE SOME OF THE DIMENSIONS OF MANPOWER PROBLEMS FACED EVEN IN EXPANDING LABOR MARKETS. A REVIEW OF SELECTED "STRUCTURAL" ASPECTS OF EMPLOYMENT ANALYSIS GAVE PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE IMPACT OF AUTOMATION ON EMPLOYMENT WHEN CONSIDERATION WAS GIVEN, NOT TO THE AMOUNT OF LABOR DEMANDED,…

This paper contains an overview of labor market policy in Sweden. It refers to job placement services and other more or less selective measures to improve opportunities for people to obtain and retain a job. The paper first examines the objectives of labor market policies since the 1950s, then it highlights such labor market trends as the increase…

The conventional approach to analysis of employment problems in the modern sector, namely comparison of workforce supply and demand, is inapplicable in the traditional sector, where a distinction needs to be made between the concepts of workforce underutilization and its availability. The author discusses these concepts and presents their policy…

The project focuses on two loosely-related hypotheses regarding a contradiction existing in the results of previous research on the relationship between labor force participation and unemployment. This contradiction is the persistent tendency of the estimated effect of unemployment on labor force participation--and hence estimates of "hidden…

Seventy participants representing diverse groups such as management, union members, government workers, and college teachers attended a 2-day conference covering the full range of industrial relations problems. For those attending the conference, sessions were held which dealt with problems in the construction industry, issues in incomes policy,…

Part of an ongoing effort to maintain a record of research based on data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience (NLS), this document contains approximately 1,600 summaries of NLS-based journal articles, working papers, and dissertations that have been published over the past 20 years. It couples newly found research for…