Jobless recoveries: causes and consequences

Abstract

June 2009 and overall economic activity has exhibited signs of recovery, labor market conditions remain disappointing. Payroll employment has been recovering slowly; the average duration of unemployment remains at a historical high; and the unemployment rate is projected to remain above 7.8 percent until 2013. 1 Economists are concerned that the U.S. economy is mired in another jobless recovery —when economic activity experiences growth but the unemployment rate remains high. To determine the severity of current joblessness, it is useful to compare the current state of the labor market with that during previous economic recoveries. The figure