The Day Reagan’s Labor Secretary Admitted He Was Wrong About Inequality

Reporting on the release of the monthly jobs numbers last Friday, we spoke with Northeastern University political economist Barry Bluestone about what he called generally good news: 200,000 people back to work and the unemployment rate down to 7 percent. But for those people “out of the economy,” in Bluestone’s words, or the long-term unemployed, of whom there are consistently about 4 million, things aren’t looking any rosier. Inequality for those at the bottom persists, and as he explains, it’s linked to high unemployment. Bluestone’s been making that point for decades. So, Paul asked, why hasn’t his sounding the alarm changed things? Watch Bluestone’s response above.

This entry is cross-posted on the Rundown — NewsHour’s blog of news and insight.

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