What Happened to Shared Prosperity and Full Employment and How to Get Them Back: A Seussian Perspective

The conference “Reconnecting to Work ” was held on April 1–2, 2011, as the United States suffered its worst job market since the Great Depression. Reconnecting to work, indeed! With 9–10 percent unem-ployment and little sign of substantive job growth in the foreseeable future, American workers needed more help to find work than at any time since the 1930s. Even if job growth were to miraculously pick up, most workers would have trouble keeping their heads above water for years to come. For nearly four decades the benefits of economic growth have gone almost entirely to a small sliver of wealthy Americans. The vast bulk of workers struggled with stagnant real wages and high con-sumer debt to remain in the middle class. Inequality rose to levels off the map for a major advanced country and exceeded levels in most third-world countries. Contrary to what many Americans believe, social mobility in the United States was below that for most other advanced countries.