Economics
Powell’s Labor Market Worries Find Plenty of Support in the Data
- Opioids, education and globalization make his list of concerns
- New research underlines how people and places get left behind
Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg
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Jerome Powell says America’s workforce faces serious challenges. Education levels are climbing only slowly, and both globalization and drug addiction are taking a toll on the labor market.
“When you have people who are not taking part in the economic life of a country in a meaningful way, who don’t have the skills and aptitudes to play a role or who are not doing so because they’re addicted to drugs, or in jail, then in a sense they are being left behind,” the Federal Reserve chairman told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” in an interview aired Sunday.