Washington Post: ZERO net job creation in the first decade of the new millenium

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers

By Neil Irwin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 2, 2010



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/01/AR2010010101196.html?hpid=topnews

For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher incomes and wealth for American households. But since 2000, the story is starkly different.

The past decade was the worst for the U.S. economy in modern times, a sharp reversal from a long period of prosperity that is leading economists and policymakers to fundamentally rethink the underpinnings of the nation's growth.

It was, according to a wide range of data, a lost decade for American workers. The decade began in a moment of triumphalism -- there was a current of thought among economists in 1999 that recessions were a thing of the past. By the end, there were two, bookends to a debt-driven expansion that was neither robust nor sustainable.

There has been zero net job creation since December 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had job growth of less than 20 percent. Economic output rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s as well.

Middle-income households made less in 2008, when adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1999 -- and the number is sure to have declined further during a difficult 2009. The Aughts were the first decade of falling median incomes since figures were first compiled in the 1960s.

[scheming daemons]

1. Thank you, Dubya.....

But starting this year, the next decade will be better.

[Oregone]

6. Yep, it couldn't of been the free trade policies

[rosesaylavee]

2. Not surprising... it sure felt that way.

Here's hoping we can turn this trend around for the next 10 years. Surprising to see that the 60s surpassed the 50s. Wonder why that was so?

[dtotire]

4. The Republicans were in charge

Their economic policy was conservative. When Kennedy was elected, they initiated the "New Economics", which emphasized government investment.and we started growing at a faster rate.

[rosesaylavee]

13. Aaahhhh. That makes so much sense.

I am learning still.

[HopeHoops]

3. Another wonderful accomplishment of BushCo.

[Marr]

15. And Clinton, the DLC, etc.

Our government has been an unabashed advocate for big business and pulling the rug out from under the middle class via "free trade" since Reagan.

[HopeHoops]

17. (psst. I think it goes back a bit before that)

Don't tell anyone.

[FreakinDJ]

5. Its all Obama's fault

:sarcasm:

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Golly gee! Who was president in the last decade?

[SoCalDem]

8. Nafta, Cafta, Shafta.. Most Favored Nation for China.. n/t

[Oregone]

9. But isn't it easier to blame it on an arrogant, chimpanzee-like man?

[SoCalDem]

10. He did not help, but the whole thing was in motion since the '80's

If you keep removing 2x4s from a building & burning them in the fireplace, eventually the building will fall down...not right away..but surely it will...

[Dreamer Tatum]

12. Chimps definitely seem to recognize each other

Anyone who doesn't attribute this to China, Inc., and NAFTA is a goddamned moron.

[enid602]

11. other decades

How many of the other decades ended with a year of near-dpression economic activity?

[Brickbat]

14. I held four positions from 2000-2009 (five, from 1999). None of the positions exist anymore.

Just an anecdote for you.

[kenny blankenship]

16. let me guess -their prescription was for more tax cuts?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

18. Did the Washington Post JUST figure this out? A little slow on the uptake?

Good job! you wankers

[johnaries]

19. Well, so much for "supply-side" economics. nt