A new report by the Coalition on Human Needs, titled "Towards Shared Recovery: Congress Must Do More to Reverse the Recession," outlines a plan to restore the nation's economic health and help low income people in need of assistance. In addition, more than 80 organizations have signed a letter urging Congress to quickly enact measures that will effectively counter the recession and stimulate the economy.
Source: AFL-CIO Executive Council statement, March 04, 2008
A Green Economy should be tied to the goal of improving workers' rights, fair trade rules, and rebuilding manufacturing with full employment goals.
There needs to be strong domestic investment to capture new green technologies for export.
We need to cut green house emissions from existing coal and other fossil fuels, while ramping up renewable energy, energy efficiency, advanced auto and other green technology.
Public policy should concentrate on building the full domestic supply chain in green technology, including upgrading training to create a supply of trained employees for new green industries.
See also:
Presentation
Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy
Source: Apollo in association with the Center on Wisconsin Strategy and the Workforce Alliance.
Source: Mary Filardo, EPI Briefing Paper, April 29, 2008
From the summary:
The nation's 97,000 public school buildings comprise an estimated 6.6 billion square feet of space on over 1 million acres of land. And while states and local communities invested over $500 billion in K-12 school building improvements from 1995 to 2004, considerable additional investments are needed to ensure that the nation's public schools are healthy, safe, environmentally sound, and built and maintained to support a high-quality education.
Today, many of the nation's schools face the combined challenges of deteriorating conditions, out-of date design, and changing utilization pressures (including intense overcrowding in some communities and rapidly declining enrollments in others). These combined deficiencies impair the quality of teaching and learning and contribute to health and safety problems for staff and students. Building design and facility conditions have also been associated with teacher motivation and student achievement.
See also:
Press release
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Open CRS)
The slowing of economic growth and the rising rate of inflation in early 2008 have given rise to concerns that the U.S. economy is at risk of an episode of stagflation. Stagflation describes an economy that is characterized by high rates of both unemployment and inflation. The term came into popular use in the 1970s to describe the economy at that time. The unemployment rate reached 9.0% in May 1975 and a high of 10.8% in November 1982. The rate of consumer price inflation reached 12.2% for the 12-month period ending in November 1974, and 14.6% for the 12-month period ending in May 1980. Inflation is currently about 4% and the unemployment rate is near 5%, both well below the rates in the 1970s that were cause for alarm. Nonetheless, higher oil prices and turmoil in financial markets have led some to warn that stagflation may be in our future.
The key to understanding the nature of stagflation is the natural rate of unemployment. That is the lowest rate of unemployment consistent with a stable rate of inflation. Below that rate, inflation tends to accelerate. In the view of the natural rate model, unemployment and inflation rates may be relatively high at the same time, and they may even rise simultaneously for a time, particularly if inflation and the natural rate of unemployment are rising at the same time. What is unlikely to happen, however, is for the unemployment rate to be high and for the inflation rate to continue accelerating. If the unemployment rate is above the natural rate, then cooling labor and product markets would be likely to reduce upward pressure on wages and prices. Stagflation in the 1970s coincided with two large "oil shocks."
A large increase in the price of oil can have macroeconomic consequences in terms of higher inflation, higher unemployment, and lower output. Both the inflation and output effects of energy shocks are temporary, however. Once prices adjust, the economy returns to full employment and its sustainable growth path. It is not the level of energy prices that affects economic growth and inflation, but rather the change in energy prices. Thus, if policymakers are concerned with the effect of energy prices on output and inflation, they should focus more on rising energy prices than "high" energy prices, even if the high prices are permanent. Although stagflation is understood to be high rates of both inflation and unemployment, it is not clear how high those rates have to be to merit the designation. Whether or not rates less than those observed in the 1970s constitute stagflation may be a subjective matter.
Recent unemployment and inflation rates are not nearly as high as they were in the 1970s. Some economists, however, fear that the recent expansion in monetary and fiscal policy, at a time when unemployment is low but rising and energy prices are rising, could lead to a new bout of stagflation in the near future. Although policy may not be able to prevent episodes of stagflation from occurring, there may be enough understanding of the underlying causes to avoid making conditions substantially worse.
Full Report (PDF; 148 KB)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS)
U.S. food prices rose 4% in 2007 and are expected to gain 3.5% to 4.5% in 2008. Higher farm commodity prices and energy costs are the leading factors behind higher food prices. Farm commodity prices have surged because (1) demand for corn for ethanol is competing with food and feed for acreage; (2) global food grain and oilseed supplies are low due to poor harvests; (3) the weak dollar has increased U.S. exports; (4) rising incomes in large, rapidly emerging economies have changed eating habits; and (5) input costs have increased. Higher energy costs increase transportation, processing, and retail costs. Although the cost of commodities such as corn or wheat are a small part of the final retail price of most food products, they have risen enough to have an impact on retail prices. Generally, price changes at the farm level have a diminished impact on retail prices, especially for highly processed products. The impact of higher food prices on U.S. households varies according to income. Lower-income households spend a greater portion of their income on food and feel price hikes more acutely than high-income families. Higher food costs impact domestic food assistance efforts in numerous ways depending on whether benefits are indexed, enrollments are limited, or additional funds are made available. Higher food and transportation costs also reduce the impact of U.S. contributions of food aid under current budget constraints.
Full Report (PDF; 72 KB)
Source: L. Josh Bivens and John Irons, Economic Policy Institute, Briefing Paper #214, May 1, 2008
Evidence is mounting that the U.S. economy is in a recession. If this is the case, a complete business cycle from 2001 through the end of 2007 (or perhaps the start of 2008) is now on the books, and the economic performance of the current decade can be held up in comparison to that of past business cycles. By almost all measures, the most recent expansion was the worst since WWII.
A variety of recent economic data now show a pattern consistent with the start of a recession. Since 1951, three consecutive months of job declines have always been signals of a recession; the U.S. employment rate declined for the first three months of 2008. Furthermore, the unemployment rate rose from 4.4% in March 2007 to 5.1% in March 2008.
Source: John Irons, Economic Policy Institute, Briefing Paper #217, April 29, 2008
The Agenda for Shared Prosperity's central aim is to articulate policy options that will spur growth, reduce economic insecurity, and provide broadly shared prosperity. A central component of achieving individual economic opportunity is ensuring that the economy is growing at a solid pace--both by smoothing the short-term dips and by promoting investments for long-term growth.
Public investments in the nation's infrastructure, which lay the foundation for long-term growth, have been insufficient in recent years. Visible catastrophic failures are evident in the breach of the levies in New Orleans, the collapse of a major bridge in Minneapolis, and power blackouts that flowed from the Mid-West to New York City. Less visible failures are evident in the slow seepage of sewers into our waterways and in the slow deployment of broadband Internet access.
In a time of economic weakness, public investments in the nation's infrastructure can provide short-term stimulus and build the foundation for long-term economic growth. Federal investments in infrastructure, including transportation, school buildings, and information networks, are required to address critical national needs and to create jobs and spur the economy.
Source: Pew Research Center
From the press release:
This report on the attitudes and lives of the American middle class combines results of a new Pew Research Center national public opinion survey with the center's analysis of relevant economic and demographic trend data from the Census Bureau. Among its key findings:
Fewer Americans now than at any time in the past half century believe they're moving forward in life.
For decades, middle-income Americans had been making absolute progress while enduring relative decline. But since 1999, they have not made economic gains.
About half of all Americans think of themselves as middle class. They are a varied lot.
For the past two decades middle-income Americans have been spending more and borrowing more. Housing has been the key driver of both trends.
At a time when these borrow-and-spend habits have spread, Americans say it has become harder to sustain a middle-class lifestyle.
Economic, demographic, technological and sociological changes since 1970 have moved some groups up the income ladder and pushed others down.
Most middle class adults agree with the old saw that the Republican Party favors the rich while the Democratic Party favors the middle class and the poor.
Full Report (PDF; 732 KB)
Overview and Executive Summary (PDF; 158 KB)
Section I: A Self Portrait (PDF; 386 KB)
Section II: A Statistical Portrait (PDF; 293 KB)
In what is the most recessionary jobs report since the last official downturn in 2001, payrolls fell 63,000 last month and were down 101,000 in the private sector, according to today's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment actually ticked down slightly, from 4.9% to 4.8%, but this was wholly due to labor force withdrawal. Employment in the more volatile survey of households--the one from which the unemployment rate is drawn--fell over 250,000.
Related:
Americans Worried About Their Standard of Living
Source: Dennis Jacobe, Gallup, February 22, 2008
From the abstract:
In testimony on the ramifications of inadequate investments in workforce development, Senior Fellow Harry Holzer told a House Appropriations subcommittee that the very low earnings and employment of millions of Americans generate high poverty rates and impose huge costs on the U.S. economy. The research evidence, while somewhat mixed, shows that many public investments in workforce development are cost-effective at raising the earnings of low-income workers.
Source: Helen Lachs Ginsburg and Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg, New Labor Forum, Vol. 17 no. 1, Spring 2008
With the 2008 election likely to lead to Democratic control of the legislative and executive branches, it is time for a bold new vision of the economy--one that will reduce the increased inequality that has grown in tandem with our national wealth. It is time to take a big step toward shared prosperity. ... The National Jobs for All Coalition is proposing a major program called the Drive for Decent Work. It simultaneously attacks economic inequality and our often unacknowledged but crippling double deficits--the chronic shortfall of decent jobs and the gaping hole in public investment. The Drive for Decent Work is a win-win solution that could put the nation back on the path it started to take after World War II.
Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press, News release, February 14, 2008
Public views of the U.S. economy, already quite negative, have plummeted since January. Just 17% currently rate the nation's economy as excellent or good, down from 26% last month. The percentage of Americans rating the economy as "poor" has increased even more dramatically, from 28% to 45% in one month.
Source: John Holahan and Allison Cook, Health Affairs, Web Exclusives, Vol. 27 no. 2, published online February 20, 2008
(subscription required)
From the abstract:
The number of uninsured Americans increased by 3.4 million between 2004 and 2006, despite improving economic conditions. In the first four years of the decade, during a period of economic recession, the number increased by 6.0 million. The dominant factor in both periods was a decline in employer-sponsored insurance coverage. Although the recent decline was less than that experienced from 2000 to 2004, growth in public coverage was small, and the number of uninsured people increased by 1.0 million children and 2.4 million adults. Employer coverage declined most for self-employed or small-firm workers, in the South, and among noncitizens.
See also:
• Cost Impact Analysis for the "Health Care for America" Proposal
• Lewin Group Cost Impact Analysis: Executive Summary
• Costs and Savings: Breakdown of Lewin Group Cost Analysis
• Two Approaches to U.S. Health Care Reform: Shared Responsibility vs. 'You're On Your Own'
• Lewin Cost Analysis: Coverage Fact Sheet
Since our nation's founding, the promise of economic opportunity has been a central component of the American Dream. And while the Dream remains a unifying tenet for an increasingly diverse society, it may be showing signs of wear. Growing income inequality and slower economic growth suggest that now is an important moment to review the facts about opportunity and mobility in America and to attempt to answer the basic question: Is the American Dream alive and well?
This volume, authored by a team of scholars at the Brookings Institution, is one in a series of major research products that aims to further enlighten the public dialogue on economic opportunity. While it offers reassuring findings in some areas, in many others there is room for concern. By arming the public and policy makers with facts about the status of opportunity in America today, this volume seeks to stimulate and frame the debate about which policies are likely to be most effective in ensuring that the American Dream endures for the next century.
Source: Daniel C. Vock, Stateline.org, February 15, 2008
Michigan just suspended a state loan program for 8,500 students, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is facing a four-fold jump in interest rates on one of its loans. Both are signs of a new bond-market crisis that is threatening to hurt other cities and states if left unchecked.
Hopes are riding high that famed investor Warren Buffett, the administration of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D), Congress or federal agencies will avert even bigger troubles.
If not, cities and states that issue tax-exempt bonds to raise money for such projects as road and bridge work or rely on investors to raise student-loan money could confront a series of new problems stemming from the subprime mortgage meltdown.
Source: Brian W. Cashell, Congressional Research Service, Order Code RS22793, January 23, 2008
A recession is one of several discrete phases in the overall business cycle. The term may often be used loosely to describe an economy that is slowing down or characterized by weakness in at least one major sector like the housing market. When used by economists, "recession" means a significant decline in overall economic activity that lasts more than a few months. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) business cycle dating committee is the generally recognized arbiter of the dates of the beginnings and ends of recessions. As with all statistics, it takes some time to compile the data, which means they are only available after the events they describe. Moreover, because it takes time to discern changes in trends given the usual month-to-month volatility in economic indicators, and because the data are subject to revision, it takes some time before the dating committee can agree that a recession began at a certain date. It can be a year or more after the fact that the dating committee announces the date of the beginning of a recession.
Source: Nicholas Johnson, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 13, 2008
The federal "economic stimulus" package enacted today not only cuts federal taxes, but also threatens to reduce many states' corporate and personal income tax revenue this year and next year.
The potential revenue loss comes at a particularly problematic time for states, because about half the states are already facing budget shortfalls for the current year, the upcoming year, or both; more states will be in trouble if the economic downturn worsens. Some states are already enacting cuts in K-12 education, higher education, health care and human services, among other areas in order to balance their budgets.
State transportation departments could award and begin more than 3,000 highway projects totaling approximately $18 billion within 30-90 days from enactment of federal economic stimulus legislation, according to a survey by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
...
The survey, conducted this week at the request of Congressional committees who are at work on the stimulus effort, drew responses from 47 of AASHTO's members, including the District of Columbia. The state-by-state response is attached.
Press release includes chart.
Source: Economic Report of the President, February 2008
The Economic Report of the President - "Today, the White House released the Economic Report of the President, an annual report to Congress on the Nation's economic progress. The report released today reviews the state of the U.S. economy, the outlook for the next several years, and a wide variety of economic issues that underlie many of the Administration's economic policies."
See also:
• Fact Sheet
• Economic Report of the President: 2008 Report Spreadsheet Tables
• Previous Economic Reports of the President: Download entire reports and statistical tables
Regional economic downturns, speculation on skyrocketing home prices and rampant unfair and deceptive mortgage lending practices have combined to create the perfect foreclosure storm in America. According to the FDIC, there is roughly $1.3 trillion of outstanding subprime mortgage debt (Poirer, 2007). In 2006 alone, more than $600 billion of subprime mortgages were originated (Inside Mortgage Finance, 2006). RealtyTrac data shows roughly 450,000 homes experienced foreclosure in the third quarter of 2007, up a full 100 percent from the same period one year ago (Yoon, 2007). And, although foreclosures are most heavily concentrated in 12 to 20 states, foreclosures are up in 45 of 50 states. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke reported that 21 percent of subprime adjustable-rate mortgages were ninety-days delinquent or more as of January 2008 and according to the Center for Responsible Lending (Center for Responsible Lending) fully one in five subprime loans are expected to fail (Bernanke, 2008; Center for Responsible Lending, 2007). That rate of foreclosure is estimated to translate into more than two million families losing their homes to foreclosure over the next year to 18 months (Center for Responsible Lending, 2007). Estimates of the full economic costs of the foreclosure crisis vary greatly. The projections share, however, a common theme: the prospect of significant financial costs that extent beyond the housing market.
Source: U.S House of Representatives, Joint Economic Committee (Republicans), January 2008
This paper investigates the value of employment data as real-time recession indicators. Among popular monthly labor measures, the unemployment rate is the most useful as an indicator of recession, whereas two top measures of employment growth -payroll jobs and civilian employment -have little value. Two other series, the labor force participation rate and the employment-population ratio, also provide little or no value in anticipating a recession. The best pre-recession employment indicator is actually weekly claims for unemployment insurance (UI). The paper reviews a new technique for predicting recessions, and develops an employment recession probability index. The index indicates a 35.5 percent chance that the U.S. economy is in recession, sharply up from 10 percent last month.
Source: Algernon Austin, Economic Policy Institute, EPI Issue Brief #241, January 18, 2008
Recessions hurt. And they hurt the poor and socially marginalized populations the most. As we face the prospect of the second recession of the decade and consider the merits of various stimulus packages, it is useful to examine what a recession would mean for black America.
The late 1990s produced a full employment economy and significant absolute and relative economic gains for blacks. This Issue Brief contrasts the benefits of a national full-employment economy with the harm caused by the 2001 recession and the weak job growth that followed.
Source: Elaine Maag, David Merriman, Urban Institute, January 30, 2008
Every state except Vermont operates under some sort of balanced budget requirement. That means that to serve the increased need of distressed populations during recessions, states must either increase revenue or reallocate resources dedicated to other programs. Similarly, when revenue declines, states must raise taxes or reallocate resources. This report examines the extent to which rainy day and general fund savings were a significant factor in helping states cope with fiscal stress during and after the 2001 recession, a possible explanation for the lower than expected legislated tax increases and social welfare cuts.
From press release:
An aggressive stimulus package is needed immediately to address the current weakness of the US economy, according to the latest report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University.
The Need For An Economic Stimulus Package, by economists Eileen Appelbaum, Dean Baker and John Schmitt, stresses the necessity for an immediate stimulus package equal to 1% of GDP to counteract the negative effects of the collapse of the housing bubble.
Several economic indicators point to a softening of the US economy. From the recent 0.3 percentage point rise in unemployment (a jump rarely seen outside of a recession), to a decline in consumption, the US economy is clearly in a down turn, if not entering a recession, spurred by the collapse of the housing market and the loss of trillions of dollars of wealth.
Source: Christian Weller, Challenge, Vol. 51 no. 1, January-February, 2008
(subscription required)
This economist presents a variety of ways of measuring how security has been reduced in the 2000s. How well can middle-class Americans withstand financial emergencies--a bout of unemployment, for example, or a medical emergency? He finds that the gains in security of the late 1990s were eroded entirely in the 2000s.
Source: David Howell and Mamadou Diallo, Challenge, Vol. 51 no. 1, January-February, 2008
(subscription required)
These authors argue that traditional measures of employment and unemployment are not adequate. In the traditional data, a low-paying job counts as much as a high-paying one. The authors create new indicators to determine how well Americans are doing. They show that a strikingly low percentage of American workers have what the authors define as adequate jobs, although the rate has improved since 1979. Serious job-quality deterioration has occurred, however, for those, especially men, who have at least a high school diploma but no more than two years of college.
Source: John Schmitt, Challenge, Vol. 51 no. 1, January-February, 2008
(subscription required)
This economist defines good jobs as those that pay a reasonable minimum and also include health care and pension benefits. The share of such jobs in the economy has declined since 1979. For men, the decline is especially sharp. Given that the workforce is better educated and more experienced, a decline is all the more an indication that the labor market is failing the American worker.
Source: John Schmitt and Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research, January 2008
This report uses the past three recessions of the early 1980s, early 1990s and early 2000s to project the effects of a recession in 2008. The report finds that such a recession would result in a significant rise in unemployment and the poverty rate along with a significant decrease in the employment rate and the median family income. These effects would be felt long after financial markets begin to recover with workers feeling the negative effects of the recession for the next three to four years.
See also:
Press Release
Source: Aviva Aron-Dine, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 28, 2008
In his State of the Union address this evening, President Bush is expected to renew his push to make his signature tax cuts permanent. In recent weeks, Administration officials have offered three major arguments for this policy -- (1) the tax cuts yielded strong economic growth over the past few years, (2) extending them would help the economy overcome its current weakness, and (3) extending them would improve the economy's performance over the long run. None of these claims bears up well under scrutiny.
Source: Aviva Aron-Dine, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 25, 2008
The centerpiece of the stimulus deal announced yesterday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader John Boehner, and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is a proposal to send rebate checks to 117 million U.S. households.
The structure of the proposed rebate, while not ideal from a stimulus standpoint, is far superior to the structure of the rebate proposal that the Administration developed last week. Where the President's proposal would have left out approximately 26 million low- and moderate-income working households, the rebate proposal included in the compromise package would reach almost all of these households.
Related Articles:
Dispelling Confusion On Food Stamps, Tax Rebates, And The Stimulus Package: Speaker's Statement on Food Stamps at National Press Club Was Mistaken
Source: Robert Greenstein, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 26, 2008
Source: John C. Austin, Paul Dimond, and Bruce Katz, Opportunity 08, Brookings Institution, January 2008
The United States is undergoing a profound economic restructuring, due to pressures of globalization and the rising knowledge economy. America's Great Lakes region, once the core of the nation's industrial production and wealth creation, is losing ground rapidly. At this critical moment, federal investment in U.S. competitiveness lacks a regional focus. Federal policy fails to recognize that national growth is driven by integrated regional economies with the strong underlying assets necessary for talent creation and innovation.
Source: The Brookings Institution
Recent economic data provide the clearest signs that the problems in the housing and financial markets are affecting the economy as a whole. In December 2007 payroll employment growth fell nearly to zero and the unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 5.0 percent. The last time the unemployment rate climbed this much in one month was in the 2001 recession. Delinquency and foreclosure rates are rising and risk spreads in financial markets remain much wider than last summer. On the other hand, there are some reassuring indicators: net exports have been trending up, and consumer spending rose at a brisk pace in October and November. However, most forecasters are predicting a marked slowdown in economic growth for several quarters, and many put the odds of recession in the neighborhood of 50 percent.
Full Document (PDF; 913 KB)
Source: Joint Economic Committee
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) and Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Vice Chair of the JEC, today released the Committee's annual report. The President says his policies are working to make the economy strong and that all Americans are benefiting, but the facts show an economic record that has left the vast majority of American families behind. The JEC report concludes that the country needs a change in direction to get our economy back on the right track and to ensure that all American families share in our nation's growing prosperity.
Highlights: The main indicator of the overall health of the U.S. economy, GDP growth, has been anemic during this economic recovery. Since the last economic peak in the first quarter of 2001, the economy has expanded at an annual rate of only 2.6 percent, about a third less than the 3.7 percent average growth rate of the three prior economic cycles of similar length.
Source: Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's Economic Advisory Roundtable
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's (SIFMA) Economic Advisory Roundtable today unveiled its predictions for 2008, forecasting that the pace of U.S. economic growth would slow in the first half of the year, but accelerate in the second half. In the year-end survey, the median forecast anticipates GDP to grow but at a below-trend pace of 2.1 percent in 2008 as the economy works through the housing sector contraction and the effect of credit market turbulence.
The Roundtable also expects the Federal Open Market Committee to reduce the target Fed funds rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 percent at the upcoming December 11 meeting. The consensus view among the Roundtable members was that the accompanying FOMC statement will emphasize risks to economic growth.
Full report (PDF; 98 KB)
Source: The Brookings Institution
The dream that one can rise up from humble beginnings and achieve a comfortable middle-class living, if not attain great wealth, transcends racial lines. But is this a reality for black and white families alike?
This report, by Julia Isaacs of The Brookings Institution, reviews overall income trends based on Census Bureau data and provides an intergenerational analysis based on a longitudinal data set that allows a direct match of the family income of parents in the late 1960s to their children's family income in the late 1990s to early 2000s.
In brief, trends show that median family incomes have risen for both black and white families, but less so for black families. Moreover, the intergenerational analysis reveals a significant difference in the extent to which parents are able to pass their economic advantages onto their children. Whereas children of white middle-income parents tend to exceed their parents in income, a majority of black children of middle-income parents fall below their parents in income and economic status. These findings are provided in more detail below.
Full Report (PDF; 264 KB)
Source: Alan Berube, Brookings Institution, November 06, 2007
From the summary:
Despite facing new and unprecedented challenges--economic, environmental, and demographic--America stands in a position of great strength. To achieve economic prosperity that is broadly shared and environmentally sustainable, our nation must leverage the key assets--innovation, human capital, infrastructure, and quality places--that principally concentrate in our major metropolitan areas.
Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research
The number of good jobs -jobs that pay at least $17 an hour, and provide health insurance and a pension -- declined by 3.5 million between 2000 and 2006, according to a new report by the Washington, DC-based Center for Economic and Policy Research.
The report, "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: Job Quality in the United States over the Three Most Recent Business Cycles," (PDF; 274 KB) found that the economy has created fewer good jobs in the 2000s than was the case over comparable periods in the 1980s and 1990s.
The research defined a good job as one that pays $17 an hour, or $34,000 annually, has employer-provided health care and offers a pension. The $17 per hour figure is equal to the inflation-adjusted earnings of the typical male worker in 1979, the first year of data analyzed in the report.
Using this definition, the share of good jobs fell 2.6 percentage points, or about 3.5 million jobs, between 2000 and 2006. This decline was much sharper than what the economy experienced over comparable periods in the two preceding business cycles. Between 1979 and 1985, for example, the share of good jobs fell 0.5 percentage points. Between 1989 and 1995, the drop was just 0.l percentage points.
Source: Corporation for Enterprise Development, 2007
From the summary:
The 2007-2008 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard contains evidence that even profound and enduring ownership patterns can change and change fast. In the two years since the release of the 2005 Scorecard, median net worth jumped 20% nationwide, while it jumped 68% for women and more than doubled for minorities. Most of these gains have come as a result of increasing homeownership and home values, and are therefore at risk that as interest rates rise and grace periods end, foreclosure rates will also rise. The results underscore the efficacy of housing finance and credit innovation and the need for policing and reigning-in predatory lending.
Yet, the most important message of the 2007-2008 Scorecard, like its two predecessors, is the disparity in asset ownership - and, consequently, economic opportunity--among states, and by race, gender and income.
Source: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, October 11, 2007
From the summary:
Public assessments of the nation's economy have fallen to a two-year low, and the nation's economic outlook remains relatively gloomy. In particular, faced with a steady stream of negative news about the U.S. housing market, Americans are substantially less inclined than they were even a few months ago to say they expect home prices to increase over the next few years. People living in areas with the most expensive homes and middle-income Americans are particularly likely to say that future home prices will decline.