Employment Links

First, as this expansion continues into its 11th year — the longest in U.S. history — economic conditions are generally good. Second, the benefits of the long expansion are only now reaching many communities, and there is plenty of room to build on the impressive gains achieved so far. Fortunately, the outlook for further progress is good: Forecasters are generally predicting continued growth, a strong job market, and inflation near 2 percent. I will begin by discussing the Fed's policy actions over the past year to support the favorable outlook. Then I will turn to two important opportunities for further gains from this expansion: maintaining a stable and reliable pace of 2 percent inflation and spreading the benefits of employment more widely. more »

Janet Yellen before the Joint Economic Committee, US Congress "With the job gains this year, 17 million more Americans are employed now than eight years ago. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate, which stood at 4.1 percent in October, has fallen 0.6 percentage point since the turn of the year and is nearly 6 percentage points below its peak in 2010. In addition, the labor force participation rate has changed little, on net, in recent years, which is another indication of improving conditions in the labor market, given the downward pressure on the participation rate associated with an aging population." more »

Canada, like many industrialized countries, has an aging population. The continued growth in the number of women and men aged 65 years and over, with women representing the majority of older people, will have implications for many areas such as health services, caregiving, housing and pensions. This chapter provides an overview of senior women in the population, analysed in a historical context where appropriate. It examines their socio-demographic characteristics, including life expectancy, diversity, family and living arrangements, health and well-being, labour force participation and income. more »

What makes a good life? Usually this question is in the domain of priests, philosophers and metaphysicians but the OECD, a think tank consisting of 34 mostly rich countries, sought to find the answers with data. People's well-being is higher in Northern European countries, such as Norway and Iceland, both which score high in terms of employment and job security, as well as environmental factors. What makes a good life? Usually this question is in the domain of priests, philosophers and metaphysicians, but the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),… more »