Creating jobs

With the U.S. facing its worst recession in the post-WWII era, William Galston of Brookings Governance Studies has presented an agenda that "would demand both elected officials and their constituents to subordinate other objectives, however worthy, to the overriding objective of restarting the engine of economic growth and sustaining robust job creation." His proposed policies:

• Pro-growth tax reform
• Public incentives for larger private capital investments in public infrastructure
• Conditional revenue-sharing by the federal government
• Jump-starting the stalled trade treaty agenda
• Pro-growth regulatory policy
• Facilitating immigrants with advanced education, critical skills, or entrepreneurial capacity to enter and remain in the U.S.
• Reducing student dropouts and using community colleges to provide skills for future jobs

Priority No. 1: Creating an Agenda to Spur Job-Creating Economic Growth, July 20, 2010, pdf (6pp/291kB), html

Small business as jobs generator

The Brookings Economic Studies program issued a policy brief on the role of small business in job creation.

As the nation strives to recover from the “Great Recession,” job creation remains one of the biggest challenges to renewed prosperity. Small businesses have been among the most powerful generators of new jobs historically, suggesting the value of a stronger focus on supporting small businesses—especially high-growth firms—and encouraging entrepreneurship.

The paper examines the following recommendations to strengthen the small business sector:

• Improve access to public and private capital.
• Reexamine corporate tax policy.
• Promote education and research to train workers and spur innovation.
• Rethink immigration policy.
• Explore ways to foster “innovation-friendly” environments.
• Strengthen government counseling programs.

The Future of Small Business Entrepreneurship: Jobs Generator for the U.S. Economy, pdf (8pp/456kB), html, June 2010

2010 grads & jobs

"For the class of 2010, it will be one of the worst years to graduate high school or college since at least 1983 and possibly the worst since the end of World War II," according to a recent paper from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Its main findings:

• The class of 2010 will be entering a labor market with the highest rates of unemployment in at least a generation; unemployment rates for both college graduates and non-graduates younger than 25 are nearly double their pre-recession levels.
• Since the start of the recession, the youth labor force (workers age 16 to 24) has contracted by 1.1 million workers.
• Since the start of the recession, an additional 1.2 million 16-24-year-olds have become disconnected from both formal schooling and work.
• Most young adults that come across hard economic times will fall through the large gaps in the public safety net.
• Contrary to arguments that higher federal budget deficits burden future generations, rising public debt that finances efforts to boost economic recovery will minimize the deep economic scarring caused by the recession and increase future earnings for young workers.

THE CLASS OF 2010, Economic Prospects for Young Adults in the Recession (pdf, 14pp/256kB), May 11, 2010

Health coverage in the recession

In a report released today, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) examines changes in employment-based health coverage during the recession that began in Dec. 2007. It uses data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), up to July 2009, with emphasis on changes that occurred between Sept. 2007 and April 2009. The findings include the following:

• Between Dec. 2007 and July 2009, the percentaqe of workers with coverage fell from 60.4% to 55.9%.
• The uninsured rate rose from 12.3% in May 2007 to 16.4% in July 2009.
• Deductibles and copayments for office visits and prescription drugs have been increasing.
• Demographically, those most likely to lose coverage were younger vs. older workers, Hispanic vs. white or black workers, and part-time vs. full-time workers.

The Impact of the Recession on Employment-Based Health Coverage, May 2010
      Issue Brief (pdf, 24pp/1.5MB)
      Executive Summary
      Press release, May 4, 2010

Employee benefits databook

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) maintains its Databook on Employee Benefits online and updates it when new data is available.

Topics include the retirement income system; employer-sponsored benefit plans; government programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; health insurance; and labor force and demographic trends.

The book is organized into four sections -- overview, retirement programs, health programs, and other employee benefits. The date next to each chapter link indicates when data and/or links were last updated.

EBRI Databook on Employee Benefits, updated March 2010

Jobs in the recession

Bruce Katz, Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, testified yesterday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Subcommittee on Economic Policy. "Creating Jobs in the Recession" presents highlights from his written testimony. Katz states three main points that would build on President Obama's Dec. 8 speech at Brookings and "try to connect Macro Economy Policy to Metro Economic Realities."

Katz's 3 points:

1. The American economy is a network of metropolitan economies. As a Metro nation, we need smart policies and targeted investments to enhance our competitiveness globally.
2. The Great Recession has affected different metro economies in radically different ways. There is no single American economy. Even with talk about a national recovery, many metro economies are mired in recession.
3. Federal efforts to bolster job creation need to connect "The Macro to the Metro." Metros need two kinds of federal responses:
   1. Quick intervention to prevent further job losses, e.g., direct fiscal assistance to local governments which employ 10% of the nation's workforce
   2. Creating jobs to build the next economy--low carbon, innovation fueled, and export oriented.

Creating Jobs in the Recession, Dec. 10, 2009

Job sprawl

The Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program published a report on "the ongoing decentralization of population and employment" from city centers to distant suburbs. Authored by Elizabeth Kneebone, the report found that:

• Only 21 percent of employees in the top 98 metro areas work within three miles of downtown, while over twice that share (45 percent) work more than 10 miles away from the city center.
• Job location within metropolitan areas varies widely across industries.
• Employment steadily decentralized between 1998 and 2006: 95 out of 98 metro areas saw a decrease in the share of jobs located within three miles of downtown.
• In almost every major industry, jobs shifted away from the city center between 1998 and 2006

The author concludes:

Understanding the changing location of jobs within U.S. regions represents a necessary step towards implementing more cohesive, comprehensive policies for economically productive, socially inclusive, and environmentally sustainable metropolitan growth.

Job Sprawl Revisited: The Changing Geography of Metropolitan Employment
      Report (pdf, 24pp/2.6MB), April 2009
      Press release (pdf, 4pp)
      Q&A with author (pdf, 2pp)

Recent GAO reports

Recent reports from the Government Accountability Office (GAO):

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: Community Colleges and One-Stop Centers Collaborate to Meet 21st Century Workforce Needs, GAO-08-547 (pdf, 46pp/620kB), May 15, 2008

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) created the one-stop system that requires states to unify federally funded employment and training programs. Since community colleges play a key role in providing career and technical training, they are also important in the one-stop system. GAO examined how community colleges meet workforce training needs, how they integrate with the one-stop system, what conditions affect these efforts, and actions of the Departments of Labor and Education to encourage linkages between community colleges and the workforce system. GAO visited 20 community colleges in 6 states--Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington.


MEDICAL DEVICES: FDA Faces Challenges in Conducting Inspections of Foreign Manufacturing Establishments, GAO-08-780T (pdf, 26pp/336kB), May 14, 2008

In the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) oversight of medical devices sold in the U.S., it inspects establishments that manufacture these devices, including foreign establishments which are the subject of this report. The Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act of 2002 (MDUFMA) required FDA to establish third-party inspection programs, and FDA created two--the Accredited Persons Inspection Program and the Pilot Multi-Purpose Audit Program (PMAP). As of May 8, 2008, two foreign establishments had been inspected. GAO concluded that this small number of inspections "raises questions about the practicality and effectiveness of these program to quickly help FDA increase the number of foreign establishments inspected."


OFFSHORE MARINE AQUACULTURE: Multiple Administrative and Environmental Issues Need to Be Addressed in Establishing a U.S. Regulatory Framework, GAO-08-594 (pdf, 58pp/1MB), May 9, 2008

The U.S. aquaculture industry is currently limited to nearshore waters or onshore (ponds and tanks) that are governed by individual states. To increase production, there is growing interest in offshore aquaculture, raising fish and shellfish in the open ocean (3 to 200 miles from U.S. coastlines) which are federally regulated waters. As there is presently no comprehensive regulatory framework to cover offshore aquaculture, GAO identified four areas to consider in developing regulations: program administration, permitting and site selection, environmental management, and research. GAO visited Hawaii, Maine, and Washington for this report.


NURSING HOMES: Federal Monitoring Surveys Demonstrate Continued Understatement of Serious Care Problems and CMS Oversight Weaknesses, GAO-08-517 (pdf, 57pp/1.87MB), May 9, 2008

Oversight of nursing homes is shared by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the states. CMS defines standards nursing homes must meet to participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs and contracts with state surveyors to assess compliance. GAO found "substantial" missed deficiencies in state surveys, the most frequent involving poor quality of care relating to nutrition, hydration, and pressure sores. GAO recommended actions for CMS to take to effectively track understatement of deficiencies and to oversee regional office implementation of the survey program.

See Nursing Home Compare

Recent CBO reports

Testimony on Approaches to Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions       (pdf, 16pp/116kB), Nov. 1, 2007

The Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) testified before the House Budget Committee on reducing CO2 emissions. He advocated an incentive-based approach as more economically efficient than "command-and-control" policies. Two main incentives would be taxes (to regulate the price of emissions) or a cap and trade system (to regulate the quantity of emissions). Of the two, a "well-designed tax would yield higher net benefits."


The Long-Term Outlook for Health Care Spending
      (pdf, 35pp/552kB), November 2007

This study gives CBO's projections of health care spending over the next 75 years under current federal law. In view of rising health costs, CBO assumes that employers, households, and insurance firms, to avoid reducing consumption of other goods and services, will change their behavior, e.g., higher cost sharing, increased utilization management, reduced insurance coverage by employers, and greater scrutiny of new technologies.

See related FR post, "Medicare and nursing homes" (8/1/07)


Long-Term Unemployment (pdf, 34pp/476kB), Oct. 2007

Unemployment lasting more than six months has increased. This report examines such long-term unemployed workers during 2001-2003 - their characteristics, sources of income, and subsequent activities.

Finding workers

In a press release (pdf, 6p.) issued Sept. 25, the Dept. of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) announced Hawaii's unemployment rate for August at 2.6 percent, noting that it was the 32nd consecutive month that the unemployment rate remained below 3 percent.

The long-running low unemployment rate has created an extended labor shortage. In August the Workforce Development Council (WDC) of Hawaii, a private-sector led body that advises the Governor on workforce development, published a booklet to help employers expand their labor options "to include people less commonly considered." The publication provides information on hiring:

• Immigrants
• Older workers
• People with disabilities
• Welfare recipients
• People with criminal histories

The report also summarizes tax credits available when hiring from certain groups, and presents an array of flexible employment alternatives to retain employees, especially older workers: compressed work week, flextime, job reassignment, job redesign, part-time work, phased retirement, job sharing, telecommuting, sabbatical.

Solutions at Work...Finding Workers (pdf, 32pp/3.7MB)