Why was there low unemployment in the 90s?

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Sat Jun 29 14:16:52 PDT 2002


Bradford DeLong wrote:


>Or, alternatively, that rapid aggregate productivity growth drove a
>wedge between the wage increases workers aspired to given low
>unemployment and the price increases firms needed to maintain and
>expand profits, and thus low unemployment was consistent with stable
>inflation...

...except that profits peaked around 1997, as productivity was accelerating, bringing the boom to an end.

And the evidence is that productivity gains were concentrated in a few industries - how does that translate into economy-wide wage increases?

And how about Wal-Mart locking workers in to work off the clock? That's a productivity miracle for you!

Doug



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