The Jobs Aren't Coming Back: Outdated Ideas Fuel Economists' Unrealistic Optimism

Updated

Economists are forecasting a recovering U.S. economy. It's great that they're optimistic, but are they right? It could be that they're applying old forecasting models to an economy that has changed in fundamental ways. After all, since the advent of the Internet in the mid-1990s, businesses have found that they can meet demand with fewer workers. Outsourcing to cheaper labor markets has also become standard business practice. And that could mean a permanent class of millions of former workers who never get reemployed.

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