Tag: Unemployment
Is WV’s Economic ‘Comeback’ Real?
by Ted Boettner and Dean Baker , 08/17/2018
This article was originally posted at the Charleston Gazette-Mail. You can read the original here. Over the last few months there has been a flurry of op-eds and articles from big corporations and Republican lawmakers arguing that state budget cuts and low-wage policies like “Right-to-Work” are resulting in a booming economy in our state. Some […]
Tepid Blue Collar Job Growth Continues in the Rust Belt
by Alan Barber , 03/13/2018
Blue collar jobs as a percent of all jobs in the rust belt are virtually unchanged since the end of the recession.
We Are Finally Seeing Wage Growth, But it Began Well Before President Trump Took Office
by Alan Barber , 02/02/2018
On the campaign trail and once in office, President Trump promised that the nation would quickly see jobs come roaring back. Of course, the country had already seen unemployment rates fall sharply before the 2016 elections reflecting the economic policies of the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve under then-Chair Janet Yellen.
Note to Employers: the Construction Labor Market Not as Tight as Advertised
by Brian Dew and Kevin Cashman , 07/27/2017
Numerous recent news stories describe the labor market for construction jobs as excessively tight [1]. Construction employers struggle to find blue collar workers, these stories claim, and therefore are supposedly offering luxurious compensation packages to entice people to take jobs in the industry, or are forced to turn down work. These employers and journalists often […]
Growth in Blue Collar Jobs Continues in March
by Alan Barber , 04/07/2017
As noted in this month’s CEPR Jobs Byte, the national unemployment rate ticked down to 4.5 percent in March. Overall job growth was just 98,000 for the month. Coupled with downward revision in the last two months, the three-month job growth average was 178,000.