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Book

Not Working

Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone?

David G. Blanchflower
Princeton UP, 2019
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Recommendation

In this thoughtful work, economist David Blanchflower recounts his involvement in government decisions in the period leading up to and during the Great Recession. He laments the blindness of his profession in letting the crisis happen and in exacerbating its effects. Blanchflower explores current links between economic policy and the rise of global populism and nationalism, and he discusses how leaders could avert another recession, which he sees as imminent. His fact-filled book will appeal to economists, policy analysts and recession worriers everywhere.

Summary

The decade-long post-recession recovery is weaker than any before it for centuries.

As of 2018, official unemployment rates in the United States, United Kingdom and several other nations remain low. By this measure, the world has benefited from a strong recovery since the Great Recession that began in late 2007. But by other metrics – notably underemployment and real wage increases – it has not, and indicators of an upcoming recession have begun to accrue. Governments held back the recovery in 2009 with austerity measures and higher interest rates. Millions fewer people work today than before the recession. Wages remain stubbornly low. Worker productivity has stalled at less than 2% per year since 2000. High rents and living costs keep young people in their childhood homes, depressing real estate and associated industries. This results in a far less mobile and flexible labor market.

Experts cite technology, the gig economy, automation and the aging population as reasons why millions fewer people work now than prior to the recession. Technology does slightly affect lower&#...

About the Author

British-American economist David G. Blanchflower is a professor at Dartmouth University.

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