Tag: national employment law project
Report: Lower-Wage Jobs Continue To Grow, Mid- And Higher-Wage Jobs Lag Behind

Report: Lower-Wage Jobs Continue To Grow, Mid- And Higher-Wage Jobs Lag Behind

A new report by the National Employment Law Project reveals the slow and ongoing jobs recovery that the private sector has experienced since the 2008 recession, and underscores the notion that an economic recovery has not yet been fully achieved.

As the NELP report notes, in the months leading up to the 2008 financial crisis and the months that immediately followed, “employment losses occurred throughout the economy, but were concentrated in mid-wage and higher-wage industries.” Specifically, 3,579 higher-wage private sector jobs were lost at the time of the crisis, accounting for an overwhelming 41 percent of total job losses. An additional 3,240 mid-wage private sector jobs — accounting for 37 percent of the total losses — were lost at the same time.

Significantly fewer low-wage jobs, however, were lost during the same period. NELP reports only 1,973 lost lower-wage jobs in 2008 – accounting for 22 percent of job losses during the Great Recession.

Since 2008, private-sector employment has experienced job growth in all three wage industries — but low-wage industries have seen the greatest, and quickest, recovery.

According to the NELP report, lower-wage industries — which employ 1.85 million more workers today than at the start of the 2008 recession — now account for 44 percent of the jobs gained since 2009.

Higher-wage industries now account for only 30 percent of job gains since 2009, despite accounting for the highest number of lost jobs. Mid-wage industries are experiencing the slowest recovery, comprising only 26 percent of the job gains made over the past four years.

In total, there are now 2 million fewer jobs in mid- and higher-wage industries than there were prior to the recession.

NELP explains that in 2009, slow economic growth could be attributed to “specific drivers of the Great Recession” — such as the housing bubble collapse and the financial crisis “as well as a continuation of the long-term decline in durable and nondurable manufacturing and telecommunications.” Consequently, lower-wage industries, like the foodservice industry, were less affected by the complex factors that contributed to the financial crisis and overall recession than their better-paid counterparts.

While lower-wage industries recover, though, higher-wage and mid-wage industries’ slow job gains have larger, negative implications that lower-wage jobs growth cannot reverse or counter. Hence, even as mid- and higher-wage industries continue to create and add jobs, the rate is not fast enough to fill overall employment deficits.

Though these latest numbers serve as further evidence that a full economic recovery is still a few years away, they also offer a silver lining; according to NELP, “private-sector employment has increased for 49 months,” resulting in employment levels finally reaching their previous peak — which was just before the 2008 economic crisis. Moreover, this recovery has not only been quicker than that which occurred following the 2001 recession, but it has also resulted in stronger employment gains in the private sector.

And despite the slow pace of its recovery, the private sector is still responsible for all employment growth since 2009. As private sector industries have steadily added jobs, the public sector has continued to report job losses. NELP reports that government employment declined by 627,000 jobs over the past four years — a loss that made it more difficult for the private sector to add more jobs during the recovery period.

Ultimately, NELP concludes that a pattern exists, as evidenced by the 2001 and 2008 crises and the subsequent recoveries: When the labor market suffers, mid- and higher-wage industries are hit hardest. And as the economy recovers, the lower-wage industries recover more quickly.

Chart via National Employment Law Project

Poll: Huge Majority Favor Extending Unemployment Benefits

Poll: Huge Majority Favor Extending Unemployment Benefits

Congressional Republicans could face an electoral backlash if they fail to renew Emergency Unemployment Compensation, according to a Hart Research Associates poll released Thursday.

The poll, which was conducted on behalf of the National Employment Law Project, finds that 55 percent of American voters believe Congress should maintain federal unemployment benefits. Just 34 percent believe they should cut the program.

The poll also suggests that Republicans could face serious political problems in 2014 if they block an extension of the benefits, which they fought to keep out of the budget deal that President Obama signed into law on Thursday—55 percent of respondents with a history of voting in off-year elections support an extension, while just 35 percent oppose them. Furthermore, 39 percent of those surveyed say they are less likely to vote for a member of Congress who votes to cut off unemployment benefits, while just 21 percent say such a vote would make them more likely to support their incumbent (35 percent say it will not affect their vote).

The GOP should be especially worried by the fact that its base is driving the support for an extension. Seniors — a critical demographic on which the GOP’s hold is already loosening — favor an extension by a 61 to 31 percent margin, greater than any other age group. White voters who did not attend college favor an extension 52 to 37 percent, and white women favor extending benefits 53 to 33 percent.

The Hart Research survey echoes the results of a recent Public Policy Polling poll, which also found that House Republicans could face an electoral backlash for blocking an extension.

Republicans will soon have an opportunity to engage with the issue head-on. Although the benefits will expire for 1.3 million Americans on December 28, Senators Dean Heller (R-NV) and Jack Reed (D-RI) have introduced a bill that would extend them for three months. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has promised to bring the bill up for a vote no later than January 7, and the White House has signaled that the president will sign it if it reaches his desk.

If Republicans block the extension in the Senate or, more likely, in the House of Representatives, then they will hand Democrats a golden political opportunity. Given that Democrats are already telegraphing their plans to make inequality a central theme of their 2014 pitch, Republicans could come to regret living up to the caricature of a party that only cares for the rich.

More importantly, refusing to extend unemployment benefits would cast a blow against the tepid economic recovery. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, failing to extend unemployment benefits could cost 240,000 jobs in 2014, while reducing GDP by 0.2 to 0.4 percent.

AFP Photo/Saul Loeb