IF YOU WANT TO KNOW why ordinary folks find it difficult to understand what economists are saying about the American economy, consider the question of jobs. We know a few things. We know that jobs are such an emotive political issue that one candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination promises that if elected his three top priorities will be, “jobs, jobs, jobs.”

And we know that when there is slack in the labor market, upward pressure on wages is reduced. This allows Alan Greenspan and his monetary policy colleagues at the Federal Reserve Board to declare inflation under control and to keep a lid on interest rates.

Recommended Stories

Job openings ticked up in December

The Limits of Prosperity?

The President’s Mighty Pen