Why Americans Are Right to be Anxious in Clinton's Lackluster Economy

Report Budget and Spending

Why Americans Are Right to be Anxious in Clinton's Lackluster Economy

April 19, 1996 1 min read Download Report
Kenneth Wainstein
Former assistant attorney general for National Security at the Justice Department

1 State of the Union Address, January 1996.

2 Since the end of World War 11, there have been four periods of economic growth longer than 58 months. These occurred from February 1961 to December 1969, from March 1975 to January 1980, from November 1982 to July 1990, and from March 1991 to the present. The data comparisons made in this section refer to similar points in time during these four expansions. For example, average employment growth from March 1991 to the present (59 months) is compared to the average employment growth from February 1961 to December 1965 (59 months), from March 1975 to January 1980, and from November 1982 to October 1987

3 U.S. Bureau of the Census, "Income and Poverty 1994," httplAvwwcensusgovlftplpublhheslwwwlincpov94.html. These are the most recent data available.

4 Data on median weekly earnings are not available on a consistent basis prior to 1979.

5 Bureau of Labor Statistics, internet site http.-Ilstatsbisgov:801cgi-binlsurveymost?ee, or as published in "Employment and Earnings," various issues.

6 Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers," various issues.

7 Economic Report of the President (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1996), p. 332.

8 American Management Association, "Corporate Downsizing, Job Elimination, and Job Creation," 1995.

9 Bureau of Labor Statistics, "The Employment Situation," BLS Press Release, April 1994 and April 1996.

10 Jennifer M. Gardner, "Worker Displacement: A Decade of Change," Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Labor Review, April

Authors

Kenneth Wainstein

Former assistant attorney general for National Security at the Justice Department