Paul Krugman: Eurosclerosis, Then and Now (France/EU beating us in prime-working-age employment.)

[onehandle]

Since I found myself referring to an old piece that began with a discussion of European employment, it’s probably worth pointing out how much things have changed since the 1990s.

One simple indicator is the fraction of prime-working-age adults — that is, 25-54 — that are, in fact, employed. Why focus on that age group? Because employment rates for the young are strongly affected by things like student aid policy, while those for the over-55 set are strongly affected by retirement policy; so if you want to know how many of the people who really should be working are managing to find jobs, the 25-54 sample is useful. Here’s America versus the cheese-eaters over the years:



In the 90s, with US employment surging while France (and much of Europe) was having trouble creating jobs, there was a lot of talk about the European employment problem. By the eve of the current crisis, however, the European job picture had changed a lot for the better, while even a business-cycle recovery didn’t seem to do much for US jobs.

Many Americans, even those who imagine themselves well-informed, don’t realize that there has been a big change here; my sense is that the US elite picture of Europe is stuck in a sort of time warp, in which it’s always 1997, and we have the Internet and they don’t. But things have moved on a lot since then.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/eurosclerosis-then-and-now

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[Enthusiast]

2. Easy answer. In France the workers

are willing to work harder, for more hours and less pay. That is why they are beating us. Nothing could be more clear.

[snot]

4. I assume you're being facetious?

[Enthusiast]

5. A...... yeah. nt

[ProSense]

3. Other countries are

beating us at everything: high-speed rail, infrastructure, education, exports, science and technology, research and development, you name it, the U.S. is falling behind or losing its edge.