A recent Brookings Institute
article discusses 10 facts about jobs that shed light on the nation’s progress toward economic recovery. In the article, Isabel V. Sawhill, a budget and fiscal policy expert at Brookings, argues that despite some progress in 2014, a number of measures show that many poor and middle-class Americans face challenges in the job market. Among other things, these measures show:
- an economy that must produce 80,000 jobs a month just to keep pace with population and labor force growth,
- job growth without a corresponding increase in average earnings, and
- wage growth that barely keeps pace with inflation.
But it’s not all bad news. The article also notes that the ratio of people looking for work to the number of job openings is around 2 to 1, similar to the 2005 level. During much of the recent recession, the ratio was 4 to 1.
For more facts and charts about jobs and economic recovery, click
here.
