Two Takes on Unemployment

Paul Solman: Harry Truman may have longed for a one-handed economist, but it’s probably good that he didn’t get one. Economies, like weather systems, are simply too chaotic to make prediction — much less prescription — unambiguous. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that at last month’s economists’ convention in Atlanta, while many attendees forecast a jobless recovery, a few were more optimistic. One was Northwestern’s Robert Gordon, an expert on, among so many other things, long-term trends and productivity. He had a take on the labor market devoutly to be wished.

More typical of the mood in Atlanta, if not the policy prescriptions was Duke’s William Darity. He finds current — and as-far-as-the-eye-can-see future — employment levels unacceptable. His contribution to today’s debate therefore is a proposal. (Our earlier web exclusive with Darity on ‘colorism’ in the labor market can be seen here.)