No Cheers for Full Employment

Abstract

U.S. economy has performed well over the past several years compared to what we have come to expect in recent decades, but it is far from the best it can be. The unemployment rate of 4.2 percent is the lowest since the 1960s, but in the midst of the longest peacetime expansion in the nation's history, it is nearly double rates that were common in the 1950s. In addition to the number of unemployed, millions are underemployed and millions more are officially out of the labor force but would work if a job were available. Of those who have full-time jobs, many earn wages below the poverty line. In good economic times, people forget about business cycles, but this expansion will eventually turn to recession. Poverty, joblessness, and underemployment will again increase. Although no