These developments are striking departures from past cyclical behavior, and they raise the question of whether some facet of the U.S. economy has changed. Given the very slow employment growth in the two years after the past two recessions, should we consider “jobless recoveries” to be the new norm?
Proponents of this view cite the widespread cost cutting and restructuring that has occurred in the past two recoveries, the continuing outsourcing of jobs overseas, and an ongoing focus of business decision makers on improving efficiency rather than expanding capacity.