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Newsletter
Regional growth in worker quality
Journal Article
Long-term earnings losses of high-seniority displaced workers
Newsletter
Growth in worker quality
Newsletter
Labor reallocation during the Covid-19 pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic and associated recession have had dramatically different effects across industries, with some, including large parts of the leisure and hospitality sector, truly devastated and others, like much of the manufacturing sector, able to recover quite quickly. This has led some analysts to describe the pandemic as a reallocation shock, requiring substantial movement of labor across industries. Such a process likely requires substantial time, during which the natural rate of unemployment may be elevated. In this Chicago Fed Letter, we consider two questions: First, has the need ...
Newsletter
Explaining the decline in teen labor force participation
Fewer teenagers are participating in the labor force today than at any point since WWII. At just under 44%, teen labor force participation is 15 percentage points below its peak in the late 1970s. Why has there been a long-run secular decline in the work activity of young adults, and why has it sharply accelerated in the last five years?
Journal Article
Can sectoral reallocation explain the jobless recovery?
This article reconsiders the case for sectoral labor reallocation's role in the jobless recovery. The authors review and critique previous attempts to measure sectoral reallocation, with a particular emphasis on the recent contribution of Groshen and Potter (2003). Their conclusion, based on an extension of Rissman (1997), is that the need of reallocate employment across industries was lower during the most recent two recessions than in previous business cycles. Therefore, sectoral reallocation likely has not played an important role in the jobless recoveries.
Working Paper
Should we teach old dogs new tricks? the impact of community college retraining on older displaced workers
This paper estimates the returns to retraining for older displaced workers--those 35 or older--by estimating the impact that community college schooling has on their subsequent earnings. Our analysis relies on longitudinal administrative data covering workers who were displaced from jobs in Washington State during the first half of the 1990s and who subsequently remained attached to the state?s work force. Our database contains displaced workers' quarterly earnings records covering 14 years matched to the records of 25 of the state's community colleges. We find that older displaced workers ...