This Blog will focus on how jobs are created, why they are created and what can help our country make more jobs in the future.
Jordan over at the Atlantic has a great article on the minimum wage. Really soup to nuts on the research, arguments, and policy discussions that drive wonks crazy. If you are planning on arguing with your relatives about this issue (and if you are you are either a family of economists or you need to start watching more football) everything you would need is here:
http://m.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/everything-you-ever-needed-to-know-about-the-minimum-wage/282326/
There is an article in Fortune Magazine that complements one of the links in my last blog posting. The article can be found here:
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/12/12/better-jobs-wages-costco/
In it Anne Fisher talks about the book "The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits" by Zeynep Ton. The book follows a decade of research into the management of different companies, specifically companies that make a profit and still pay their employees well. I urge you to read the article (and the book, which I plan to). One thing that stands out is the four common traits across all the companies, specifically the fourth one which calls for building slack into staffing. This concept, where management errs on the side of more staff than less and allows staff the ability to be more efficient, is one that if more major companies could utilize could go a long way to reducing our unemployment. Imagine if more companies focused less on reducing labor costs and more on ensuring the maximum efficiency of their staff (and their customers experience). While some businesses think that if they have too much staff it could lead to diminishing returns. However, by having more staff, more customers can be assisted and tasks that were unable to be completed during busy periods (like less routine, but still important, maintenance or time consuming customer outreach) can be done. It is not a strategy for all businesses, but one that perhaps more should consider.
The hot topics last week in jobs seemed to be dominated by two themes: minimum wage and the Friday jobs report. Below are two articles that I thought brought a good amount of analysis and perspective as opposed to others.
http://m.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/the-true-cost-of-a-higher-minimum-wage/282131/
This well thought out article makes the case that that we need to look at inequality from all angles, not just minimum wages. This is a good perspective as low wage jobs are just a symptom of a larger problem wherein the international economic system is moving further towards inequality
Five key numbers for jobs report
http://money.cnn.com/m/#!/2013/12/06/news/economy/jobs-numbers.json?category=Latest News
This is a great article that highlights a few intriguing numbers from the much discussed monthly report. The take away for me was that some sectors are barely budging (like high paying manufacturing), but unemployment is going down for right reasons (people finding jobs, not leaving the work force). One interesting thing was that energy jobs, according to the article, had only grown a few thousand since the start of the year. This is peculiar if you consider all the news about the "New Energy Revolution".
An article in the IBT reports that Blackrock CEO Larry Fink sees the biggest problem with our economy being underfunding of US pensions. Specifically he feels the shortfall is hanging over the economy and will eventually cause it great harm as people live longer and the pensions can't cover their benefits. He also claims that fixing this will help solve our unemployment crisis as resolving it will lead to more growth.
While I am sympathetic to concerns about deficits and underfunding and agree it is important, I think it is not the primary concern in the near and medium term. In fact, I believe that it represents (partially) a symptom of the larger unemployment crisis. Less workers and growth means less funding for pensions. Fix that and the problem becomes easier to solve.
