Unemployment, Inc.: Six Reasons Why America Can’t Create Jobs

High unemployment in the US and a sharp reduction in consumer spending depress economies around the globe. Economists warn that the US economy could be experiencing a structural shift, explains Mark Trumbull for the Christian Science Monitor. He lists six reasons for the long period of high unemployment: companies pushing for higher productivity among workers, while hiring workers on a temporary basis as needed to test skills and markets; candidates lacking technical and math skills; a widening income gap reducing shared benefits; competition from emerging economies in supplying manufactured goods and even some services; low confidence and credit funding discouraging inventors from launching new firms; and mortgage debt limiting worker mobility. The good news, Trumbull concludes, is that any of these trends could shift suddenly, as workers educate themselves and the most innovative firms expand and create jobs. – YaleGlobal