[CPEO-MEF] CLOSURE: "labor-friendly policies had little effect on job growth after the layoffs"

[Lenny Siegel]

A study of military base closures finds that labor-friendly policies had little effect on job growth after the layoffs

by Dee Gill  
UCLA Anderson Review (CA)
May 8, 2019

In 2011, almost two years after the official end of the Great Recession in the U.S., some 14 million Americans still couldn’t find jobs. An unemployment rate stuck at about 9 percent suggested something had gone terribly wrong on the way to economic recovery.

Experts were casting about for explanations. Extended benefits enacted during the recession prolonged unemployment by sapping job seekers’ motivation, according to one theory. Labor laws that protect unions made hiring too expensive for employers, according to another. High minimum wages and tax rates, environmental regulations, generous welfare and other safety net benefits also came under scrutiny as possible reasons for discouraging employers from hiring more workers.

Economists still struggle to prove whether labor market interventions help or hurt job growth. It’s difficult to isolate their effects from the many other factors that influence employment, particularly following a devastating economic shock.

…

For the entire article and a link to the full study, see
https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty-and-research/anderson-review/base-closures

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel at cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org