Since the onset of the Great Recession, the U.S. labor market has been reeling. Public concern has largely focused on the unemployment rate, which rose to double digits and has since been stalled at just over 9 percent. This rate is unacceptably high, and macroeconomic policy efforts have been unsuccessful in bringing it down. The overall…

The midterm impact of the economic crisis on the employment situation in the EU member states varied largely (European Commission, 2010a, Chapter 1). Whereas the Baltic States, Ireland, and above all Spain registered job losses of more than 10 percent from immediately before to after the crisis, that is, between the second quarter of 2008 and the…

In this paper, the authors first discuss the Neumark and Troske piece, and then compare the U.S. context to that in Europe and Korea, as described by the Caspar, Hartwig, and Moench and the Cho and Shin contributions. Although they are in basic agreement with Neumark and Troske on the extent and depth of the current employment situation, they…

America is daily bombarded with reminders about how rough current economic times are, particularly in workforce development. Headlines scream, "Highest unemployment rate in 26 years" and "Jobs not likely to recover to pre-recession levels until 2012." In such an environment, it is easy to lose sight of serious underlying conditions affecting the…

The recession has caused a sharp rise in the number of young people not in education, employment or training in the UK. Consequently, the spotlight of skills policy has been turned onto the young. Concerns over youth unemployment are well founded, of course. However, the underlying problems of educational underachievement and worklessness have…

Many young people in Russia find it difficult to move into employment, and given the importance of a more efficient labor force for Russia's economic future, more needs to be done by the Russian government to improve the situation. Under current conditions, the state's activity in regard to solving issues of protecting the interests of young…

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…

A study used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of 5,083 women who were thirty to forty-four years old in 1967 to investigate factors relating to the determination of the asking wage. Among the findings of the study was that unemployed women substantially reduce their reservation wages as the period of unemployment progresses. Findings…

This study concludes that older workers do not have especially high unemployment rates, but when they become unemployed, they are less likely to find a job and more likely to leave the labor force in discouragement. (Author/SSH)

Approximately two-thirds of the population depends on one-third of the population for survival. The valiant 77 million constitute the full-time work force in the United States. The conflict between excellence and equality weakens the development of a maximally productive work force. (JN)

This article argues that in the upcoming decades, older workers will be competing against the largest cohort of middle-aged workers in our country's history. In the absence of other options, the elderly may feel increased pressure to retire or work part time. (Author/SSH)

This article cites six sources which present planning and implementation strategies for major government-sponsored training programs. These federal programs were designed to allocate funds to modernize training facilities and to provide employment skills for the hard-to-employ youth in six European and Asian nations. (SSH)

The standard definition of unemployment results in a severe underestimation of Native Americans. Availability of local employment opportunities determines whether they actively look for work. Also, significant numbers choose to work intermittently. It is, therefore, difficult to measure Native American labor force participation. (JOW)

Although labor market indicators paint a dismal picture of the status of African-American workers, they underestimate the extent to which they have been affected by recent trends. Official estimates do not include those not actively seeking work or those frustrated by the job market. (JOW)

Reindustrialization problems in the United States (U.S.) include unemployment, low productivity, inflation, and inadequate economic growth. To determine how to improve economic performance, a careful, rational evaluation must be made of such factors as tax policy, spirit of risk, managerial effectiveness, rates of innovation, research and…