The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently projected record-breaking growth in 2021, but it is premature to celebrate this rosy macroeconomic picture. In the same document, the CBO also made an alarming prediction: The U.S. labor market will not fully recover until 2024. Recent U.S. jobs reports reveal the depth of the pandemic-created…

During the recent economic downturn, media and industry reports of skill shortages in the trades continued to appear. The intent of this paper is to examine the evidence for skill shortages in the trades persisting during the economic downturns over the last 20 years, using various indicators. These include employment growth, vacancy rates,…

In the first half of 1986, moderate job growth continued, but only in the service-producing sector and in construction; the level and rate of unemployment were about unchanged, as employment increases matched labor force expansion. (Author/CT)

In 1999 unemployment reached a 30-year low; more than half of all job growth was in services; federal employment increased because of Census 2000; the home health care industry began a slight recovery. Nearly half of total employment growth was in high-paying managerial and professional specialties, especially for women and blacks. (SK)

Recent economic trends led to several pieces of manpower legislation and the establishment of several programs: the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973, and the Emergency Jobs and Employment Assistance Act of 1974. This legislation opened public service jobs and established Federal…

On average, unemployed U.S. citizens remain jobless for much less time than their European counterparts do. The relatively low level of unemployment in the United States is attributable to two factors: a social protection system that offers far less protection than those in Western Europe do and a broad range of job openings. The fact that…

To ensure economic growth and increased employment opportunities for youth, there must be greater emphasis on the following: (1) providing self-employment skills to young people; (2) preparing them for highly technical jobs; and (3) preparing them for service industry jobs. Recommends the incorporation of entrepreneurship education in the…

The feasibility of large-scale, countercyclical public job-creation was assessed. Focus was on how many job-creating activities could be undertaken as well as the job-creation potential and costs of these activities. Data was collected through field visits made to Washington-based federal government and national organizations and to twenty-four…

The report consists of three parts: "The Design of a Federal Employment Program to Counter Recession"; "The Design of a Federal Employment Program in a Strategy to Raise Low Earnings"; and "The Design of a Guaranteed Job Opportunity as a Part of Welfare Reform". In Part 1, an Anti-Recession Program (ARP) is proposed. ARP is an automatically…

This study focuses on the role of the federal government in reducing persistent joblessness that prevails at relatively high levels even during periods of high employment or prosperity ("structural unemployment"). While the problem of cyclincal joblessness dominates public policy discussion at the present time, structural unemployment is…

This second of a three-volume report of a study done to assess the feasibility of large-scale, countercyclical public job creation contains chapter 2 of the report on the methods and findings with respect to job-creating activities, their job-creation potential, and related characteristics. (Volume 1, comprised of the report's first chapter,…

Rural job growth remains behind that of metro areas, hindering efforts to move welfare recipients into successful employment. Those most in need of public assistance have less education, lower earnings, and higher unemployment than average. Welfare recipients are concentrated in rural areas marked by chronic economic distress and low-skilled,…

DESPITE THE CURRENT ADVANCE IN TECHNOLOGY AND THE RECENT POPULATION GROWTH, MEANINGFUL EMPLOYMENT IS STILL AVAILABLE, EVEN FOR MINIMALLY SKILLED PERSONS. A FREE, FLUID, AND "PEOPLE-ORIENTED" SOCIETY SHOULD PROVIDE AS MANY CAREER OPPORTUNITIES AS THERE ARE PEOPLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM. THUS IN THE HUMAN SERVICES, WHICH INCLUDE TEACHING AND…

A study assessed the potential development of service sectors in different cities throughout the country and compared the results of growth in these and other sectors with respect to their effects on (1) total employment; (2) the geographic dispersion of metropolitan employment; (3) central city fiscal capacity; (4) metropolitan cyclical…

This last of a three-volume report of a study done to assess the feasibility of large-scale, countercyclical public job creation covers the findings regarding the priorities among projects, indirect employment effects, skill imbalances, and administrative issues; and summarizes the overall findings, conclusions, and recommendations. (Volume 1,…