The U.S. labour market – especially the rapid rise in unemployment – has been a hot topic lately. As the attached articles from the WSJ highlight (see Mismatch), there is a great deal of debate over questions such as:
1. Is the high unemployment rate due to a "mismatch" problem in the labour market?
2. Are jobless recoveries the "new normal" -- and what does this imply for the "99'ers"?
3. Are reservation wages of the unemployed too "sticky"?
4. Is there scope for government intervention to lower unemployment?
For the more data inclined, the following commentary on jobless recoveries has some interesting comparisons with past recessions
