Full Employment

Overview We originally launched Employ America to confront the policy failures that plagued the decade following the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 (GFC). The failure of our policymakers to support workers and sustain aggregate demand during and following recessions had been an enduring obstacle, not just during the GFC, but

After the pandemic recession, the right policy decisions resulted in a strong recovery and laid the foundations for another era of sustained productivity growth, similar to the 1990s. Sadly, in 2025, new policies are actively working against that dream.

This is our last snapshot of the labor market before we really start seeing the effects of the new Administration’s policies on the economy.

So far, the labor market has taken the slowdown in labor demand in the healthiest way possible. If the labor market slows more than expected, the Fed may not have the luxury of patience anymore.

The 1990s saw an extended period of full employment, high growth, and low inflation. Part of this achievement was attributable to healthcare cost control efforts undertaken by both public- and private-sector actors.

We take our nonpartisan public mission seriously. We do our best to highlight the threats to full employment, what public policy can do to achieve full employment, and the full suite of benefits that can flow from full employment. We'll have more to say in the coming months

Due to the October payroll number marred by hurricanes and the Boeing strike, the real signal comes from the household survey (where those who are absent due to weather are still counted as employed) and the negative revisions to previous months.

After taking into account data revisions and the Q3 GDP release, productivity growth is running stronger in the post-pandemic period, at about a 2% annualized pace. This stands in contrast to the sluggish ~1.4% pace observed in the pre-pandemic period. We've been productivity optimists for some time