How can the U.S. job market be fixed?
It’s not an original or even insightful question. As we enter the presidential election cycle full-force this fall, every politician will offer up an answer. The trouble is a singular answer to this very simple question is not to be found. And as impatient as Americans are to find answers, the solutions likely will be complex and demand patience.|By Tom Hudson, McClatchy Newspapers
How can the U.S. job market be fixed?
It’s not an original or even insightful question. As we enter the presidential election cycle full-force this fall, every politician will offer up an answer. The trouble is a singular answer to this very simple question is not to be found. And as impatient as Americans are to find answers, the solutions likely will be complex and demand patience.
It has been three long years since the leading edge of the financial crisis came crashing into America, costing millions of jobs, ruining household finances and leaving gaping holes in government budgets.
Job growth has returned, but at a meager rate. Pay raises for working Americans are rare. And job seekers are so discouraged we have the lowest participation rate in the labor market since 1983. Millions of Americans have opted out of the labor pool instead of continuing to tread water or even drown.
The latest job figures for August will be released Friday. Expect another underwhelming month for employment growth. Don’t expect us to get any closer to coming to a consensus on how to fix the job market.
The size of the problem is enormous. Twenty million Americans want to work but can’t find a job. If the labor market returned to its median unemployment rate since 1980, that number would be cut in half.
Solutions take inspiration, courage and leadership. That’s where the fixes must begin.
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