Work To Do: Job Market Faces Long Recovery

After the last two big recessions in the mid-seventies and early eighties, the economy grew at close to 6%. This time around, the recession is being a lot more stubborn. The nation has averaged less than half that, says Los Angeles-based Christopher Thornberg, who points out that the unemployment rate, which is typically falling by this point in the recovery, has stayed near 10%.

“The post-recession job growth in the US has left much to be desired,” says Thornberg, economist and founding principal of Beacon Economics. “Relative to the 8.5 million private sector jobs lost between December 2007 and December 2009, we still have a long way to go before we are back to pre-recession levels.”