Earlier this week, my colleague John Schmitt and I released a paper, “Deconstructing Structural Unemployment,” highlighting some additional data that counters the argument coming from some quarters that what we are seeing today is a dramatic increase in structural rather than cyclical unemployment. We used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Displaced Workers Survey to show that even though construction workers were more likely to become displaced over the three years 2007-2009, they were strikingly similar to other workers in terms of finding new work, being geographically mobile, and taking pay cuts in new jobs. We also looked at whether or not “housing lock” – immobility caused by decreases in housing prices – might be contributing to structural unemployment, and found that the effects are miniscule and, regardless, not caused by structural problems in the labor market.

As has been widely reported, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is now back in Haiti, ending his seven year exile in South Africa. We'll be updating this space throughout the evening and over the weekend with the latest updates from twitt

Mark WeisbrotThe Guardian Unlimited, March 17, 2011

March 17, 2011

March 17, 2011 (Prices Byte)

Andrew Sullivan has put forward a dramatic proposal for means testing Social Security. He wants to eliminate all Social Security benefits for individuals with non-Social Security incomes above $40,000. In addition, he wants to raise the retirement age to 70. Let's take these in turn.

First, $40,000 is probably a bit low for most people's definition of wealthy. Most people probably don't think of firefighters and nurses as wealthy, but we don't live in Mr. Sullivan's world.

So, in the interest of dealing with projected deficits in the years ahead, rather than taxing the rich, taxing financial speculation, fixing the health care system, or cutting defense, Mr. Sullivan wants to use a "Social Security" tax on the wages of middle class workers to pay for shortfalls elsewhere in the budget. I look forward to seeing candidates running on this platform.

The deficit hawks are acting like they just got a shot of steroids. William Gross, the head of Pimco, sold off the government bond holdings of their largest investment fund. The deficit hawks are claiming this as evidence that the sky is now falling and that we have to take steps now to Social Security, Medicare and other important programs.

Before we throw current and future retirees overboard, we may first want to ask a few questions about Mr. Gross's qualifications as an oracle. As a first point, if he was really all-knowing, he would have sold off his bonds in early October when the interest rate on 10-year Treasury bonds was 2.41 percent. If he waited until January and the interest rate had risen to 3.39, then he cost his investors a lot of money. He could have sold these bonds at a much higher price when the interest rate was lower.

Although a new study today from The Lancet has brought the cholera epidemic back to the attention of the media, the story had faded from the headlines, replaced by elections, returns of former presidents (and dictators) and reconstruction projects. Many c