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Human Capital

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Brookings experts analyze reforms that can build the nation’s human capital and provide opportunities for all families and workers, shoring up entrepreneurship and public-private investment, especially in inner cities and core communities. Renewed attention to programs connecting young people to job training and the labor market are key to broad-based American prosperity.

A worker carries a screw gun as he rebuilds a boardwalk destroyed by Superstorm Sandy nearly five months ago, in Bay Head, New Jersey March 21, 2013. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson).

Blog Post

Bad News in March: Tepid Job Gains and a Shrinking Workforce

April 5, 2013, Gary Burtless

The slower-than-expected job gains in March may foreshadow a slowdown in payroll growth over the next few months as fiscal contraction at the federal level begins to bite, writes Gary Burtless. Burtless examines the disappointing BLS jobs report for March, finding that most of the drop since last November is explained by continued weakness in the job market and the decline in the availability of long-term unemployment benefits.

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Refine by: Job Creation | Labor Policy | U.S. Economic Performance | Unemployment

  • In the News

    People are very interested in investing in education right now, partly because it’s a tough job market. They can’t find work, and also to get the jobs they’d like to have, they need more skills.

    November 27, 2012, Karen Dynan, Washington Post

  • In the News

    Leaders must be very intentional in raising the skills and education levels of the fastest-growing portions of our population. Our global competitiveness, our innovative capacities, will hinge on our ability to arm Latinos, Asians and African Americans with the skills and tools they need to thrive in our economy.

    October 10, 2012, Amy Liu, Nashville Business Journal

  • In the News

    There are a lot of steps between when the raw data are collected and we end up with estimates of the unemployment rate, where either mistakes or purposeful manipulation could affect things. But the people in the Bureau of Labor Statistics are much more loyal to their professional duties than they are to the person who happens to be holding office at the time, and who may not be there in six month’s time.

    October 5, 2012, Gary Burtless, National Public Radio

  • In the News

    To keep pace with the growth in [America's] working-age population, employers need to add between 90,000 and 100,000 jobs every month.

    June 15, 2012, Gary Burtless, Xinhua

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Human Capital

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