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…

It will take years for the labor market to recover from the damage induced by the recent recession. While monthly job losses almost surely peaked in 2009, the unemployment rate will likely peak in 2010 (CBO 2010a). In April, the unemployment rate reached 9.9% and the overall economic cause is simple: firms are not hiring quickly enough, as…

The proceedings of a House of Representatives joint task force on the relationship of Federal budget policy to unemployment are presented. The hearings include statements from a representative of the United States Catholic Conference, economists of the Urban Institute, the vice president of the Committee for Economic Development, and a…

This four-chapter book explains how the structure of job opportunities in the United States has changed over the past 20 years as the economy has changed from goods production to service employment; it links such changes to the issues of displacement policy and worker mobility. It is intended to contribute to the formation of policies and programs…

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…

This comparative study is intended to shed light on how vocational training is recognized and used as an instrument to mitigate the grave employment problems now facing all the countries of Europe. The three countries--Belgium, France, and Italy--are examined successively on the basis of a virtually identical approach. Each chapter begins with a…

Testimony is presented from a hearing held to consider a bill (S. 2185) to extend the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit for an additional year. (Originally passed in 1978, the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit focuses tax incentives for employment on specific target groups found to experience high unemployment rates.) Included in the hearings is testimony provided…

THIRTY-THREE PERSONS PARTICIPATED IN THE RESEARCH CONFERENCE ON APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING COSPONSORED BY THE OFFICE OF MANPOWER POLICY, EVALUATION, AND RESEARCH, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, AND THE CENTER FOR STUDIES IN VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION, THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE CONFERENCE WERE TO (1) PRESENT THE FINDINGS OF…

The Guaranteed Job Opportunity Act would make major changes in federal policy on the unemployed by guaranteeing a public sector job to hard core unemployed persons until they find a job in the private sector. Part two of the testimony for this bill was given to a joint session of the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Productivity and the…

Examines the current state and the consequences of unemployment in Russia. Discusses those industries hardest hit and the psychological damage inflicted. Maintains that education is no protection against the loss of a job and little help in finding a new one. (MJP)

This literature review is part of a project designed to provide an in-depth picture of the experiences and views of long-term unemployed people in Australia. The review outlines what the research shows and says about the situation of young people (15-24 years) in work and education in the changing society of the 1980s in Australia. The book is…

The Guaranteed Job Opportunity Act would make major changes in federal policy on the unemployed. The bill would allow hard core unemployed persons to work on government projects until they find a job in the private sector. The participants would work four days per week for minimum wages or 10% more than welfare or 10% more than unemployment…

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…

An analysis of teenage unemployment indicates that it is very high and endangers the future of some of the young. In 1975 the unemployment rate for teenagers, ages 16-19, was 19.9%. For nonwhite teenagers, it was even higher (36.9%). Teenagers accounted for more than 20% of the total number of unemployed, but less than 19% of the total labor…

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,…