2020
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The drop in spending of older Americans and its regional impact
March 31 | Gad Levanon, PhD, Former Vice President, Labor Markets, The Conference Board | Frank Steemers, Former Senior Economist, The Conference Board | Ben Cheng, Former Researcher, Economics Department, The Conference Board | Comments (0)One of the striking features of COVID-19 is that it appears to be much more dangerous for older people than for younger people. As a result, older people are more likely to stay at home and avoid having other people enter their home. As older Americans will experience a longer and more extreme social distancing, they are likely to cut back on spending more than younger people.
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Improvement in labor force participation of minority groups
February 25 | Gad Levanon, PhD, Former Vice President, Labor Markets, The Conference Board | Elizabeth Crofoot, Former Senior Economist, Committee for Economic Development, The Conference Board | Frank Steemers, Former Senior Economist, The Conference Board | Comments (0)Labor shortages are becoming one of the main barriers for sustaining a healthy US economy, especially in industries that hire many blue-collar and manual service workers. Is this a passing phase or a long-lasting problem?
2019
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Employers of blue-collar workers are much more affected by labor shortages
December 04 | Gad Levanon, PhD, Former Vice President, Labor Markets, The Conference Board | Elizabeth Crofoot, Former Senior Economist, Committee for Economic Development, The Conference Board | Comments (0)It is not news that the US labor market is very tight. That is, with the unemployment rate near historic lows, employers are facing significant recruitment and retention difficulties. What is less known is that the labor market is tighter for blue-collar and manual services jobs than for the highly educated white-collar jobs. The exact opposite of prevailing trends in recent decades.
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A clue to the mystery of the slow wage growth in the US
November 19 | Gad Levanon, PhD, Former Vice President, Labor Markets, The Conference Board | Frank Steemers, Former Senior Economist, The Conference Board | Comments (1)The Conference Board Salary Increase Budget Survey, which was just released this week, provides a unique explanation for why wages have been accelerating more modestly than many analysts have expected in recent years: Employers have been slow to raise salary structures in their companies. So, while wages for new hires have been accelerating since 2011, salary increase budgets are holding back overall wage growth.