EPI Report: The Great Recession Requires Different Response Than Past Downturns

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/Channels/Story.aspx?ID=1357510

2/3/2011

The Economic Policy Institute released a new briefing paper this week detailing the impact of what the organization is calling The Great Recession. According to the paper this recession is not like other recessions. EPI Researcher Rebecca Thiess said it’s time to adopt a different approach to addressing the recession.

: Since we saw a financial crisis on top of the recession we’re at a fundamentally different place now than we usually find ourselves three years out from the start date of a recession. This suggests we collectively embrace a fundamentally different response to this recession than we ordinarily otherwise might.

Thiess said the paper shows that the impact of one of the major issues, unemployment, will be felt much longer than previous recessions. Part of the problem is at the least only one job available for every four workers.

: The way the market woes we are seeing are largely demand driven as opposed to structural. No industry exists where this either a balanced ratio of job seekers to job openings or even more job openings than job seekers.

[DJ13]

1. They can call it a ham sandwich if they want, but until they admit

its actually a depression they'll never adopt the needed solutions to get it over with.

[midnight]

2. I hope the different response is getting money distributed back into main street...