Not Working: Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone?

  • 9h 20m
  • David G. Blanchflower
  • Princeton University Press
  • 2021

A candid explanation of how the labor market really works and is central to everything—and why it is not as healthy as we think

Relying on unemployment numbers is a dangerous way to gauge how the labor market is doing. Because of a false sense of optimism prior to the COVID-19 shock, the working world was more vulnerable than it should have been. Not Working is about how people want full-time work at a decent wage and how the plight of the underemployed contributes to widespread despair, a worsening drug epidemic, and the unchecked rise of right-wing populism. David Blanchflower explains why the economy since the Great Recession is vastly different from what came before, and calls out our leaders for their continued failure to address one of the most unacknowledged social catastrophes of our time. This revelatory and outspoken book is his candid report on how the young and the less skilled are among the worst casualties of underemployment, how immigrants are taking the blame, and how the epidemic of unhappiness and self-destruction will continue to spread unless we deal with it. Especially urgent now, Not Working is an essential guide to strengthening the labor market for all when we need it most.

About the Author

David G. Blanchflower is the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College, professor of economics at the University of Stirling, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is the coauthor of The Wage Curve. He lives in Canaan, New Hampshire. Twitter @D_Blanchflower

In this Book

  • What the Whole World Wants is a Good Job
  • Unemployment and Its Consequences
  • Wage Growth and the Lack of It
  • The Semi-Slump and the Housing Market
  • Underemployment
  • Something Horrible Happened
  • Sniffing the Air and Spotting the Great Recession
  • The People Have Lost Their Pep
  • Somebody Has to Be Blamed
  • Disastrous Cries for Help
  • Full Employment
  • Put the Pedal to the Metal
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