Even though it took 6+ years to exceed the previous employment peak, this is actually better than most recoveries from a financial crisis. (Note: this recovery was during a period of declining participation - partially due to demographics - and that makes this milestone even better).
From Josh Lehner today: U.S. Jobs Are Back … To Pre-Recession Levels
With the May jobs report, the U.S. economy is now back to pre-recession peak levels of employment. While this is the longest post WWII recovery the U.S. has experienced — by a good margin — it is important to keep in mind that financial crises are different. When comparing the Great Recession against other advanced economies’ financial crises in recent decades, the current U.S. cycle has outperformed in terms of employment, even as most other measures of financial crises were just as bad — home prices, stock prices, GDP per capita, government debt and the like.
This graph from Lehner shows employment recoveries for several different financial crises. The U.S. Great Recession is in red.
The Great Depression is in dark blue.
Let's not count our chickens too soon. We're still behind Japan '92 and the Fed is tapering and still committed to a 2% inflation target.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the quality of the created employment? Aren't most or very many of these jobs in low wage sectors, like retail and restaurants?
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