One Trillion Dollars
December 3, 2009
Dean Baker and I have a short new paper out today that puts the cost of the Great Recession at more than $1 trillion in lost wages and salaries. The scariest part is that the losses so far in 2008 and 2009 are less than one-third of the total losses through 2012. According to our estimates --which take into account the effects of the economic stimulus plan passed early this year-- earnings losses next year will be about 25 percent bigger than they were this year; 2011 will also be a bit worse than 2009 has been.
Nothing that a massive commitment to job creation couldn't solve, but there doesn't seem to be much of a political consensus on this. Let's hope today's White House Jobs Summit helps to focus some minds.
UPDATE: 05/08/2010: A version of the paper is in the March-April edition of Challenge magazine.