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1 [1] (November 28, 2014)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthaaayl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CRS Insights Employment Growth and Progress Toward Full Employment Marc Labonte, Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy (m abonte2Lrs~oc.gov, 7-0640) N14(IN10187) Job growth was slow to pick up following the recession that ended in June 2009. The economy did not begin to consistently add jobs each month until October 2010, more than a year into the expansion. For the next two years, employment rowth was inconsistent from month to month. Since the second half of 2012, the economy has added an average of 205,000 jobs per month. More than 200,000 jobs have been added each month since February 2014. Figure 1 illustrates that the increase in employment since October 2010 compares favorably with the previous expansion but falls short of the pace set during expansions in the 1980s and 1990s. This comparison would make the current recovery look somewhat less favorable if expressed instead as a percentage of the labor force because the labor force has grown since these expansions occurred. Figure 1. Average Monthly Employment Growth (January 1980-October 2014) 400 300 200 -80 Noe 2014 data ------ illustrate- th-onhyavrgefrth-irt1 moth ofteclnayar o -30 ------ -4:0: Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) calculations of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. Note: 2014 data illustrate the monthly average for the first 10 months of the calendar year. The economy lost 8.7 million jobs as a result of the 2007-2009 recession-more than in any other recession since the Great Depression. The economy did not surpass the level of employment attained at the peak of the previous expansion until May 2014. Thus, most of the employment growth during this expansion has only made up lost ground. Economists had hoped that an above-trend rate of employment growth would be temporarily obtainable during a catch-up phase. Nevertheless, after the loss of so many jobs, the economy's return to a normal rate of job creation has been welcome. Now that the recession's lost jobs have been recovered, the focus has shifted to returning to full employment. Full employment can be understood as the unemployment rate associated with an economy in which all resources are engaged on a sustainable basis. But how many more jobs are needed to reach full employment? Typically, full employment is measured in terms of the unemployment rate. As recently as January 2013, the unemployment rate was 7.9%-far from full

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