Summary of the article
According to the author, there is a serious sickness in the US labor market at the present. Although about half millions jobs were created in the last one year, it was far below the rate of population growth. In addition, about 83% of these new jobs were temporary implying that they have not improved the labor market in the long run. For the last ten years, the number of people in full-time employment has continued to decline. The figure stood at 41% in 2000 and it has declined to 37% in 2013 (Macdonald 1).
This problem has long term implication because young people who do not find jobs may become less productive the rest of their lives. They fail to gain experience at younger age, which affect their peak earning years due to lack of the on-job training skills. The number of young people who have “given up” finding good jobs has also doubled in the last few years. This situation has also affected global corporations which are now shifting their investment capital to other areas with high potential returns. Areas with more productive employees such as Munchen and Shanghai may likely attract many global corporations than American cities, if the situation persists.
Just as the author of the article has stated, the rate of unemployment is high in the US economy, and something need to done urgently in order to prevent more problems in the future. Although the government is working hard to create more jobs, the rate of population growth far exceeds the rate of creation of new jobs. This exposes many new entrants especially the young people to early unemployment. The government should ensure that the demand and supply forces in the labor market are equal.
Work Cited
Macdonald, Larry. A Chronic Sickness Inside the US Labor Market. Retrieved on April 7th from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrymcdonald/2014/04/04/the-chronic-sickness-of-the-us-labor-market/
