Not Working: Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone

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A candid explanation of how the labor market really works and is central to everything-and why it is not as healthy as we think Relying on unemployment numbers is a dangerous way to gauge how the labor market is doing. Because of a false sense of optimism prior to the COVID-19 shock, the working world was more vulnerable than it should have been

Reviews

"Not Working: Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone demonstrates that there are still far too few decent jobs in America . . . . The policies proposed by the current crop of presidential candidates indicate that they have not fully absorbed the lessons of low incomes in America."---Jeff Madrick, Book Post
"David Blanchflower's central theme is the crisis of underemployment and underpayment, yet his title Not Working expresses a more general failure of the global economy as well . . . . for mea culpas and an honest if demoralising insider view, read Blanchflower."---Joanna Kavenna, New Scientist
"Challenging and much acclaimed."---Klaus F. Zimmermann, Global Labor Organization
"Wide-ranging and impeccably researched . . . . [Not Working] is an excellent critique of mainstream economics that explains why many advanced economies' labour markets aren't working. In doing so, it identifies a number of deep-seated flaws in modern capitalism."---Grace Blakeley, New Statesman
"The most interesting parts of the book . . . are the ones that attempt to draw a link between underemployment, hopelessness, and support for radical right-wing politicians. . . . Blanchflower's main message--that Western economies are in dire straits unless they take more radical measures--is a welcome corrective to the idea that low unemployment numbers indicate rude economic health. As global growth weakens and the world gets used to what looks like a protracted trade war between the U.S. and China, the question of the lack of good jobs is not going away."---Sharon Lam, Reuters Breakingviews
"It is the most anticipated economic book."---Tom Keene, Bloomberg Surveillance
"[Blanchflower] makes a strong case. . . . Should Jeremy Corbyn reach 10 Downing Street, he should ring Dartmouth. I can't think of a better choice for Bank of England Governor than David Blanchflower."---Howard Reed, Prospect Magazine
"Blanchflower convincingly demonstrates that behind the boasts of high employment lies the phenomenon of widespread underemployment, with many people working less than they want to, or in jobs way beneath their qualifications."---William Keegan, The Observer
"David Blanchflower is superlative at piecing together the big picture--a sobering one--from an immense amount of data, both statistical and commonsensical. We need to heed the book's urgent message about another impending crisis."--Nouriel Roubini, coauthor of Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance
"David Blanchflower, a leading labor economist, delivers two trenchant messages in this incisive book. To economists he says: 'look and see, ' not 'see and look.' Had they looked at the numbers and not stuck to their theories, they would have seen that a big collapse was coming in 2007. His message to policymakers is 'look at underemployment, ' not the headline unemployment figures, to see the slack in the economy. Underemployment--people working less than they want to--explains why, contrary to all past experience, wage inflation has not taken off with the recovery of full employment. A wake-up call to both economists and policymakers."--Robert Skidelsky, University of Warwick, author of John Maynard Keynes and Money and Government
"Facts are stubborn things, even in economics. Sometimes it takes a stubborn principled economist to get the facts through the thick head of the economics profession and policymakers. Thankfully, David Blanchflower is just such a stubborn principled economist, and Not Working should finally drive home the realities of today's labor markets to the public and the officials who serve them. The research by Blanchflower underlying Not Working was first provocative, then prescient, and now is pressing for policymakers. Also thankfully, Blanchflower makes the case crystal clear."--Adam S. Posen, President, Peterson Institute for International Economics, and External Member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, 2009-2012
"In this thought-provoking study of the functioning--and malfunctioning--of the labor market, David Blanchflower presents a powerful analysis of one of the most important issues facing our society today: the quest for good jobs. This is a book that will be of interest to economists and policymakers around the world."--Mohamed A. El-Erian, author of The Only Game in Town: Central Banks, Instability, and Avoiding the Next Collapse
"This is economics as it should be: crystal clear, persuasively argued, and enlightening on the big question of our age, namely why so many people feel the economy does not work for them even though unemployment is so low. If you care about how to fix the mess in the rich West, Blanchflower's Not Working is for you."--Robert Peston, political editor, ITV News

Author Bio

David G. Blanchflower is the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College, professor of economics at the University of Stirling, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Twitter @D_Blanchflower