Can sectoral reallocation explain the jobless recovery?
Daniel Aaronson, Ellen Rissman, Daniel G. Sullivan
Recent employment trends are puzzling.1 Historically, the number of nonfarm jobs has grown rapidly following the end of a recession. For instance, during each of the five recessions of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, it took less than four months for employment to exceed its level at the end of the recession (“the trough”). On average, 26 months into those recoveries, employment was 5.4 percent higher than at the end of the recession and 3.6 percent higher than at the previous expansion’s peak.
