Economy outpaces sluggish job market
By Julianne Malveaux
USA Today
The USA's economic growth of late — an average of 6% in the second half of 2003 — has been described as "sizzling" and "soaring." Solid growth also is projected for this year. But don't tell that to the unemployed, who face a job market best described as "stagnant."
Though the unemployment rate seems modest at 5.6%, it is that low because more than a million workers have become so disheartened about their job prospects that they have left the labor force during the past year. Many of them are young or people of color.Indeed, joblessness among African-Americans has been pronounced. For example, the Community Service Society of New York reported that only 51.8% of that state's adult African-American men held jobs in 2003, compared with 75.7% of white men.
It's easy to point the finger at jobs that are being outsourced and to blame those from India or elsewhere for "taking" our jobs. But it's hypocritical to bask in the benefits of a globalization that has fueled our economic growth while criticizing the employment effects of that globalization.
Only a fraction of the 2.2 million jobs that have disappeared since 2001 have been outsourced. The rest have been eliminated because advances in technology have allowed workers to produce more in the same amount of time. While productivity gains are great for efficiency, they have a horrendous impact on employment stability.
What to do, then? President Bush and Congress might try developing a policy that helps unemployed people enhance their skills and prepare for the future. Instead of criticizing companies that outsource jobs, we ought to reward, through tax incentives and subsidies, employers that keep jobs here. And we ought to provide assistance to the long-term unemployed whose benefits have run out. Forty percent of the unemployed have not worked for more than 15 weeks, up from 37% a year ago.
The federal government usually supplements states' unemployment insurance benefits. But while gleefully implementing tax cuts, Congress has failed to extend federal unemployment assistance, ignoring the financial hardships of out-of-work people. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, more than 1 million people exhausted their regular unemployment benefits and went without federal aid from late December through the end of March.
Our jobless recovery is empty prosperity if our nation's policymakers keep ignoring the needs of those who can't find work.
Julianne Malveaux is an economist and author whose most recent book (with Deborah Perry) is Unfinished Business: A Democrat and a Republican Take on the 10 Most Important Issues Women Face.
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