Summary: In December 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were 131 million working Americans. Some 14.5 million Americans were counted as unemployed. Of those, 6.4 million had been without work for 27 weeks or more. Job prospects were, and remain, bleak. There was a small silver lining in the dark announcement: the BLS noted that some 1.1 million private-sector jobs were added in 2010. Job availability, according to the Gallup organization, was the number one worry plaguing the U.S. population in January 2011. So where do jobs come from? Real jobs that can be sustained by normal economic activity? Is there a role for government in the process? How do government policies enhance or reduce the long-run pace of job creation? Dr. Bruce Yandle explores these questions, and gives an update on recent economic activity. He discusses his recent paper Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Where do Jobs Come From? and examines the decision making process made by employers engaged in adding workers to their payrolls and incentives faced by employers and employees.
