For the United States to return to the employment level before the 2008 recession—finding work for the currently unemployed and accommodating new entrants into the labor force this decade—the US economy will need to create 21 million jobs by 2020, according to recent analysis by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI).
To understand how this might happen, MGI launched a research project that combines extensive sector analysis, interviews with human resource executives, a proprietary survey of 2,000 business leaders, and our own scenario analysis and modeling.
The research analyzes the causes of slow job creation in the period before the recession and during the recovery and the implications of these forces for future job growth. The research projects how the US labor force will evolve over the next ten years and creates different scenarios for job growth based on extensive analysis of sector trends. MGI’s central finding is that a return to full employment will occur in only the most optimistic job growth scenario. This will require not only a robust economic recovery, but also a concerted effort to address other factors that impede employment, including growing gaps in skill and education.
The report offers a factbase and policy framework that MGI hopes will add to the national conversation about jobs.
> Download Executive Summary
> Download Full Report
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS featured the report and interviewed SSO Director Byron Auguste on framing the context for the current jobless recovery. Watch the video below.
The Committee for Economic Development hosted, An Economy That Works: Job Creation and America’s Future, a Washington, DC forum that marked the release of McKinsey’s report on jobs and the future of the American workforce. View C-Span coverage of the forum
A New Work Era event, hosted by Atlantic.Live gathered industry heads, administration officials, university presidents, McKinsey experts and other leaders in conversation about how to best prepare Americans for future workforce trends while ensuring the country bolsters its stature as a globally competitive economy. Click here to view coverage of the event
> Follow the discussion on McKinsey’s What Matters site