WASHINGTON--—91ÆÞÓÑ Institute Chief Economist is available to comment on the employment numbers released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Kane says:
"Today's report is lackluster on the surface, and a disaster in the details. Payroll job growth under 100,000 in August is not keeping up with population growth. Once again, the employment-population ratio is flat (58.3 percent, unchanged since 2009 and far below the norm of 62 percent), which represents 12 million fewer jobs than normal. Every other recovery in the last half century saw a full jobs recovery in payrolls 48 months after the recessions began, and every other recovery saw the employment-to-population ratio recover within 42 months. This is the 'zero recovery.'
"The unemployment rate superficially improved to a lackluster 8.1 percent, but only because 368,000 fewer people dropped out of the labor force last month alone. The underemployment rate is 14.7 percent.
"In sum, this is the third so-called 'summer of recovery' that has no recovery for American jobs."
Dr. Kane often provides analysis on CNN, CNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, Bloomberg, and PBS' Nightly Business Report. His research on entrepreneurship and job creation has been widely cited, notably in the 2011 Economic Report of the President. Dr. Kane is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, San Diego. He is co-authoring a book (with Glenn Hubbard) entitled, Balance: Why Great Powers Lose It and How America Can Regain It, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in early 2013. They also recently launched .
Click to download a PDF of Kane's latest Economic Policy Studies Briefing Paper, entitled Inheriting Recessions.