State Employment Policy in Hard Times
State Employment Policy in Hard Times

Author: Council of State Planning Agencies

Publisher: Durham, N.C. : Duke University Press

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13:

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Two hundred years ago, Samuel Johnson observed that a society's level of civilization could be gauged by the manner in which it treated its poor. By that measure, the United States today is steadily losing ground. Whereas the number of officially defined poor dwindled steadily from the enactment of the Great Society programs in the mid-1960s, reaching a low of 24.5 million people in 1978, it has since risen to more than 32 million people. Although the economy continues to generate large numbers of new jobs, the basic unemployment rate continues to rise and current projections show little likelihood of unemployment rates consistently below 10 percent until some time after 1984, if then. In the years to come, the creation of an equitable and workable employment policy will be a major agenda item for politicians and policy makers at the state level, as well as for national leaders.

Full Employment in a Free Society (Works of William H. Beveridge)
Full Employment in a Free Society (Works of William H. Beveridge)

Author: William H. Beveridge

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-11-27

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 1317569784

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Beveridge defined full employment as a state where there are slightly more vacant jobs than there are available workers, or not more than 3% of the total workforce. This book discusses how this goal might be achieved, beginning with the thesis that because individual employers are not capable of creating full employment, it must be the responsibility of the state. Beveridge claimed that the upward pressure on wages, due to the increased bargaining strength of labour, would be eased by rising productivity, and kept in check by a system of wage arbitration. The cooperation of workers would be secured by the common interest in the ideal of full employment. Alternative measures for achieving full employment included Keynesian-style fiscal regulation, direct control of manpower, and state control of the means of production. The impetus behind Beveridge's thinking was social justice and the creation of an ideal new society after the war. The book was written in the context of an economy which would have to transfer from wartime direction to peace time. It was then updated in 1960, following a decade where the average unemployment rate in Britain was in fact nearly 1.5%.

Decomposing the Ins and Outs of Cyclical Unemployment
Decomposing the Ins and Outs of Cyclical Unemployment

Author: Ronald Bachmann

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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This paper analyses the contribution of the composition of the pool of employed and unemployed individuals to labour market dynamics in different phases of the business cycle. Using individual-level data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), we decompose differences in employment status transition rates between upswings and downturns into explained and unexplained parts. We find that the duration of unemployment contributes to explaining unemployment outflows to employment and observe that its initially positive contribution turns negative in deep recessions. Composition effects play an important role for unemployment outflows to non-participation but dampen the cyclicality of unemployment inflows from employment.

The Minimum Level of Unemployment and Public Policy
The Minimum Level of Unemployment and Public Policy

Author: Frank Cook Pierson

Publisher: Kalamazoo, Mich. : W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13:

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Study of employment policies for reducing persistent frictional unemployment, cyclical unemployment and structural unemployment in the USA in periods of prosperity - comments on minimum wage, unemployment benefit, labour legislation and guaranteed income programmes as work disincentives, discrimination obstacles, etc., discusses the strengthening of educational opportunities, public service employment, government training programmes and wages subsidies; gives conclusions.

Employment and the Great Recession
Employment and the Great Recession

Author: Mr.Bas B. Bakker

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2015-10-28

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 151350410X

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This paper argues that the sharp increase in unemployment in a number of advanced countries during the Great Recession was not just cyclical (the result of a lack of aggregate demand); the degree of adjustment of real wages and the impact this had on labor productivity also played a role. In many countries, post-2007 employment losses were modest, as real wages adjusted when the economy slowed down. But in some countries real wage growth stayed too high for too long. The result was large-scale labor shedding, which boosted labor productivity but also contributed to a sharp rise in unemployment. In this context, the paper discusses the different experiences of the UK (where employment increased) and Spain (where it fell sharply), and finds that almost two thirds of the employment losses in Spain resulted from the failure of real wages to adjust adequately.

Why Good People Can't Get Jobs
Why Good People Can't Get Jobs

Author: Peter Cappelli

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2012-05-29

Total Pages: 109

ISBN-13: 1613630131

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Peter Cappelli confronts the myth of the skills gap and provides an actionable path forward to put people back to work. Even in a time of perilously high unemployment, companies contend that they cannot find the employees they need. Pointing to a skills gap, employers argue applicants are simply not qualified; schools aren't preparing students for jobs; the government isn't letting in enough high-skill immigrants; and even when the match is right, prospective employees won't accept jobs at the wages offered. In this powerful and fast-reading book, Peter Cappelli, Wharton management professor and director of Wharton's Center for Human Resources, debunks the arguments and exposes the real reasons good people can't get hired. Drawing on jobs data, anecdotes from all sides of the employer-employee divide, and interviews with jobs professionals, he explores the paradoxical forces bearing down on the American workplace and lays out solutions that can help us break through what has become a crippling employer-employee stand-off. Among the questions he confronts: Is there really a skills gap? To what extent is the hiring process being held hostage by automated software that can crunch thousands of applications an hour? What kind of training could best bridge the gap between employer expectations and applicant realities, and who should foot the bill for it? Are schools really at fault? Named one of HR Magazine's Top 20 Most Influential Thinkers of 2011, Cappelli not only changes the way we think about hiring but points the way forward to rev America's job engine again.