IWS Documented News DAILY POSTINGS

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

 

Congressional Research Service (CRS)

 

Job Growth During the Recovery

Linda Levine, Specialist in Labor Economics

May 10, 2012

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41434.pdf

[full-text, 15 pages]

 

Summary

Congress in recent years passed a number of bills intended in part to jump-start a recovery in the

labor market from the recession that began in December 2007. Members of the 112th Congress are

interested in the labor market’s response to these measures to help them decide how well the

legislation has worked and whether additional job-creation legislation may be warranted in light

of the pace and composition of job growth since the recession’s end in June 2009. Accordingly,

employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is analyzed in this report from

December 2007 to June 2009 (the recession), from June 2009 to April 2012 (the recovery through

the latest month for which data were available at the time of the report’s preparation), and from

December 2007 to April 2012.

 

A “jobless recovery” prevailed across firms in the private nonfarm sector until March 2010. That

is to say, the number of private-sector jobs generally continued to fall until nine months into the

recovery. The recovery was jobless until October 2010, 16 months into the recovery, across all

employers in the public and private sectors of the nonfarm economy. At that point, net job growth

in the overall economy began not because government employment started to rise but because it

fell more slowly while private-sector employment continued to grow. Given the pace of job

growth during the recovery, a few more years will likely elapse before the approximately 7.5

million jobs lost during the recession are recouped.

 

The two industries hardest hit by the recession—manufacturing and construction—have been

recovering at very different rates. Manufacturing employment surpassed its level at the

recession’s end by May 2011. In contrast, the construction industry in April 2012 was 450,000

jobs below its employment level in June 2009. Some of the states with the most depressed

housing markets as well as manufacturing-dependent states have experienced large job losses

(Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, and Ohio).

 

During the recession, women lost relatively fewer jobs than men in part because the construction

and manufacturing industries predominantly employ men. During the recovery, women gained

relatively fewer jobs than men in part because women are a substantial presence in the

occupations (e.g., teachers) that account for much of the local and state government workforces.

The oldest and youngest workers have fared quite differently over the past few years. Workers

aged 55 and older enjoyed job growth during the recession and recovery. The youngest age group

(16-19-year olds) experienced the largest percentage declines in employment during the recession

and recovery.

 

The employment of Hispanic workers returned fairly quickly to its level at the recession’s start,

despite the ethnic group’s concentration in the hard-hit construction industry. Hispanic

employment also is concentrated in the leisure and hospitality industry group, which by early

2012 had recouped all its job losses.

 

The only education group to have similarly regained all its lost jobs are workers with at least a

bachelor’s degree. Employment among the most educated group of workers decreased very little

during the recession and has increased greatly during the recovery.

 

 

Contents

Slow Job Growth Overall, Led by the Private Sector...................................................................... 1

Industry Characteristics of Job Loss and Gain ................................................................................ 6

Manufacturing and Construction............................................................................................... 6

Private-Service Sector Industries............................................................................................... 7

Government ............................................................................................................................... 8

Individual Characteristics of Job Loss and Gain ............................................................................. 9

 

Figures

Figure 1. Employment Trend During the December 2007-June 2009 Recession and Subsequent Recovery....................................... 3

 

Tables

Table 1. Employment Change During the 2007-2009 Recession and the Ensuing Recovery, by Industry..................................... 5

Table 2. Employment Change During the 2007-2009 Recession and the Ensuing Recovery, by Gender, Age, Race, Ethnicity, and Educational Attainment ...................... 11

 

 

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.