I don’t place a lot of faith in studies, but I’ll pass along this Winston-Salem Journal article on a study prepared for the U.S. Conference of Mayors:
IHS Global Impact Inc. estimates it will take the Winston-Salem metropolitan statistical area four more years – or the second quarter of 2015 – to reach its pre-recession employment level of 227,577 from the first quarter of 2008.
The MSA consists of Davie, Forsyth, Stokes and Yadkin counties. The employment level was at 214,948 in May 2011.
By comparison, the group said it would take the Greensboro-High Point MSA until the first quarter of 2016, to reach its pre-recession level of 349,917. The employment level for Guilford, Randolph and Rockingham counties was at 321,227 in May 2011.
“The implications of this protracted slowdown are worrisome,” the authors said.
The Journal’s Richard Craver turns to oft-quoted Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner for some interesting insight. Two things: extension of unemployment benefits helps push the unemployment rate up, as does a higher minimum wage, which prices young people out of the job market.
That’s been the conservative argument against a higher minimum wage for years, yet liberals contend that a higher wage is needed to better families. In this time of economic chaos —- which the guys in Washington are doing absolutely nothing to calm —– I simply don’t know what to believe.
