Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On Dec 13, 2008, at 2:37 PM, MICHAEL YATES wrote:
>
> > You can find almost anything labor market related at the BLS site (www.bls.gov
> > ) and many good articles
> > in Monthly Labor Review (online through the BLS site).
>
> You probably won't find anything about "underemployment" though. I
> once asked a BLS guy why they didn't collect that sort of data. His
> answer: say someone who thinks he's a violinist is working as a cab
> driver. Maybe he's not a very good violinist. Is he underemployed?
I would say he was definitely unemployed, and that a New WPA would rigorously carry out the implicit but imperfectly implemented policy of the originla WPA: Craft the job to fit the applicant, not the applicant to fit the job. I.E., a really good government program would pay a bad violinist to practice his craft. There is probably some limit to this, but that limit would be _well beyond_ the point at which only good violinists got to earn the ir living as violinists. In a decent society some pretty so-so violinists would be able to exist as such, 'full time" whatever that might be.
Carrol