The recent rise in the unemployment rate for Black men will turn out to be a statistical quirk, but there is enough evidence that we have to take seriously the possibility that it is real.
We live in a society where children’s well-being as adults is overwhelmingly determined by the incomes of their parents. Inequality was not a natural outcome of the market and technology.
The length of the recovery has allowed the unemployment rate to fall to 3.7 percent, the lowest rate in almost 50 years. And the tighter labor market has also meant rising wages for those at the middle and bottom of the income ladder.
Trade policy has been an important factor in the upward redistribution of wealth over the prior four decades. This is a path definitely worth changing.
The economist and policy types who have been pushing the trade agenda of the last four decades often make assertions like “everyone gains from trade.” This is what is known in the economics profession as a “lie.”
