Jared Bernstein
Jared Bernstein
Jared Bernsteinis a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was the Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden in the Obama Administration. Bernstein's appointment was considered to represent a progressive perspective and "to provide a strong advocate for workers"...
coming fairly finding folks growth jobs labor looking low pace weak
Folks are coming back into the labor market, but they're not finding jobs there. The tepid pace of job growth was too low to keep unemployment from rising. We're looking at a fairly weak recovery, at least initially.
arrival boost clearly constrain depend economy growth insecure labor likely limiting market meaning potential recent reducing remain tax truly turn weakness
The weakness in the labor market is clearly reducing the growth of earnings, meaning consumers, most of who depend on their paychecks, are likely to remain insecure about where the economy is headed. This in turn has the potential to constrain consumption growth, limiting the boost that the economy will get from the recent tax cut, and delaying the arrival of a truly self-sustaining recovery.
ability bargain difference fair labor market people relatively share talking tight weak
People think unemployment is still relatively low, but there's all the difference in the world between a tight labor market and a weak one when you're talking about employees' ability to bargain for a fair share of growth.
bargaining demand labor large leverage likely period weakest workers
These are workers who have the weakest bargaining leverage and are most likely to be exploited, particularly in a period where you have a weak labor demand and a large labor supply.
factors gains growth hard home income jobs major net ownership pushing race report shows start typical unless wage weak worth
This report shows a race between factors boosting net worth such as home ownership and factors pushing the other way such as weak wage growth. Unless we start to see better income growth from jobs and wages, it is hard to see major gains in net worth for the typical family.
both decline economy-and-economics faster grows hours output resulting strong thus weak
In a strong economy, hours and output can both grow, so long as output grows at a faster rate, thus resulting in productivity growth. But... productivity can also grow in a slowdown or recession, when a decline in hours outpaces weak or nonexistent output growth.
again cautious close employers period turning warrants whether
Whether we're into another period now where employers are turning really cautious again ... warrants close observation,
peak somewhere ultimately
Ultimately unemployment will peak somewhere around 6.2 or 6.3 percent,
bottom children decent giving growth harder income lifting people poverty start themselves time top
When income growth is concentrated at the top of the income scale, the people at the bottom have a much harder time lifting themselves out of poverty and giving their children a decent start in life.
wages trends slumps
We are in the midst of a protracted wage slump, ... a troubling trend that is largely going unnoticed by policymakers.
mistake thinking growth
It's a mistake to think that any increase in wages is inflationary and there is substantial room for non-inflationary wage growth, particularly at the bottom end of the scale.
strong wages way
With stagnant hourly wages, the only way for working families to get ahead is by working more hours, ... certainly not the path to improving living standards that we'd expect in an economy posting strong productivity gains.
school play competition
Where you see immigration competition play out most clearly is among high school dropouts. I'd say there's clearly immigrant competition among the least-skilled workers, but natives are a shrinking share while immigrants are a growing share.
government should high-road
The government should be actively enforcing the high road.