The soft bigotry of low expectations

AS MY colleague ably explained earlier today, the latest figures from America’s Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) show that the economy is still producing jobs at a steady pace—a pace that is excruciatingly slow. To be satisfied with this report is to succumb to “the soft bigotry of low expectations”. Moreover, other indicators, such as the number of people in their prime who have a job and the split between full-time and part-time employment, suggest that America’s labour market has still failed to improve meaningfully since the official end of the recession. Neither citizens nor policymakers should be tolerating this performance.First, consider the rate at which full-time jobs have been added since the trough. American full-time employment has increased at an annualised pace of 1.5% since the bottom of the downturn in December, 2009. This has been somewhat better than the rat...