Organizational dynamics over the business cycle: A view on jobless recoveries

Abstract

This paper proposes a new explanation for the apparent slow growth in employment during the past two recoveries. The authors' explanation emphasizes dynamics within growing organizations and the intertemporal substitution of organizational restructuring. A key implication of the analysis is that recoveries from recessions following long expansions will have slower employment growth. Empirical analysis shows that the recovery that began in 1970 also exhibited slow employment growth, consistent with this prediction of the analysis. © 2005, The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.