Future of Work

7 years of US employment growth in one chart

An employee works at the production line of the IDS Borjomi Georgia's factory in the town of Borjomi, some 150 km (93 miles) southwest of Tbilisi, January 30, 2013. If there's a secret to taking the bitter taste out of ties between Russia and Georgia after a 2008 war, it may lie in this lush valley south of the Caucasus Mountain border between the feuding former Soviet republics. The valley is the source of Borjomi, a salty, sulphurous mineral water that was popular in Russia since Soviet times but was swept off shelves when Moscow banned imports of Georgian beverages in 2006, with tensions already building toward war. Picture taken January 30. To match story GEORGIA-RUSSIA/TALKS  REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili (GEORGIA - Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS) - RTR3D8PG

US wages in December rose at their fastest pace since mid-2009. Image: REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili

Elena Holodny
Writer, Business Insider
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Future of Work

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its final US jobs report for 2016 in January.

US wages in December rose at their fastest pace since mid-2009, with average hourly earnings climbing by 2.9% year-over-year. The economy also added 156,000 jobs, fewer than expected but enough to extend the record streak of job creation in the US.

In conjunction with the BLS data, the Council of Economic Advisers released a report summarizing the eight years of labor-market progress under the Obama administration.

And in that report the team included two pie charts, which show the share of total employment for each of the advanced Group of Seven economies and the share of net growth in employment for those countries.

The chart on the left shows that the US accounts for about two-fifths of total employment in the G-7, but the chart on the right shows that it has seen almost 56% of the net employment growth among the advanced economies since 2010. In other words, from the first quarter of 2010 to the third quarter of 2016, the US accounted for a disproportionate share of employment growth and put more people back to work than Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan combined.

"The rebound of the US economy from the Great Recession occurred much faster than in most other advanced economies and compares favorably with the historical record of countries recovering from systemic financial crises," wrote Jason Furman, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

 Employment Growth in G7 Countries, 2010:Q1-2016:Q3
Image: business insider
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Future of WorkEconomic Progress
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