Neil Munro of Breitbart reported on the release of a new report by the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) on Tuesday. The CEA is an Executive Branch agency that advises the President on economic policy.
CEA member and Professor Emeritus of Policy Analysis at Cornell University Richard Burkhauser told reporters there are “plenty of [American] workers on the sidelines able to come off” and renter the workforce, Breitbart reported.
Burkhauser’s were in reference to the latest “Economic Report of the President,” required periodically by Congress under the Employment Act of 1946.
Contained in the report was this comment on labor marker dynamics:
Although the low unemployment rate is a signal of a strong labor market, there is a question as to whether the rapid pace of hiring can continue and whether there are a sufficient number of remaining potential workers to support continued economic growth. This pessimistic view of the economy’s potential, however, overlooks the extent to which the share of prime-age adults who are in the labor market remains below its historical norm…. In the fourth quarter of 2018, 73.1 percent of all adults who started working had been out of the labor force in the previous month—compared with just 26.9 percent who had been unemployed. This is the largest share coming from out of the labor force since tracking of labor flows began in 1990. [Emphasis added]
The fact that so many workers have reentered the labor market after being out of the labor force demonstrates that there is no labor shortage. If there were a labor shortage, employers would be unable to hire even when offering significantly higher wages.
The CEA report and Burkhauser comments contrast with President Trump’s recent contention that U.S. employers need more foreign workers in order to fill open jobs.
Read the full Breitbart story here.
