Matching Jobless to Jobs on PBS News Hour

The PBS News Hour had a good video on the issue of structural unemployment - the problem that today's jobless may not match the jobs available. In short that structural unemployment is are current problem. As the video makes clear, this is currently a major point of debate.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Structural vs Cyclical Unemployment Debate

Christina Romer has a good column in the New York Times on the current debate over the rise in the natural rate of unemployment and whether the current unemployment problem is cyclical or structural. Romer does a good job showing that most of the current unemployment problem is the result of cyclical issues and not structural (mismatch of job creation to the skills of the unemployed or a "housing lock" of people tied to underwater mortgages). However, she also makes the case for why the government should be concerned with increases in structural unemployment.

More on Structural Unemployment

Mark Thoma's Economist's View blog has more of a break-down on the issue of rising NAIRU and its effect on macro policy - particularly, whether the Fed should be concerned with it. The idea for the Fed is that it could raise its inflation target rate to 4%, which would cause the economy to move up the Phillips Curve to a lower rate of unemployment.