Labor market divided with big pool of struggling workers FREE AMERICA NETWORK [Video]

Despite a historic level of low unemployment, Goldman Sachs believes the labor market is divided, with a “pool of struggling workers” on the fringe.

In a research note by chief economist Jan Hatzius, Goldman notes that while short-term unemployment has improved to historic lows, a higher rate of long-term unemployment and lower rate of prime-age participation betrays another side of the workforce.

“The U.S. labor market appears divided in two. At one end, the rate of short-term unemployment, defined here as those unemployed fewer than 15 weeks, is lower than at any point since the Korean War,” wrote Hatzius on Monday. “At the other end, the pool of struggling workers at the margins of the labor market remains somewhat larger than in past expansions. In particular, the rate of medium- to longer-term unemployment, … remains 0.75 percentage points higher than the low reach in the late 90s boom, and almost none of that gap is attributable to demographic change.”

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Goldman Sachs

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