The State of Working America

U.S. TRAILS IN BID FOR ECONOMIC GOLD IN MOST CATEGORIES

If economics were an Olympic event that gave medals to the nations that do best at allocating resources and labor to meet their people’s needs, the outcome of that contest would tell us nothing about the nations’ athletic prowess, of course. But it would offer great insight into each contender’s social values and priorities. The Economic Policy Institute has matched up the economy of the United States against 19 other industrialized countries (list below). While the results show deficiencies with the U.S. economic model, they also present lessons for how to better serve and enrich the lives of the U.S. population.

A chapter from the forthcoming book, The State of Working America 2008/2009 by Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein, and Heidi Shierholz, makes these economic comparisons. It finds that among its economic peers, the United States takes home the gold in two categories: productivity and per capita income. But unfortunately, in crucial events that define the winners and losers in American society – poverty, inequality, and work hours – the U.S. is far from medal contention.