The media is full of dire warnings about how American schools stack up to schools in other nations. The general consensus is we're falling behind, and evidence of this slip goes back to the 1970s when our students began to test lower than other students globally.
Remember the seismic shift that occurred during World War II where we escaped the devastation that other nations faced? That coincidentally is also when we were at the top of student test scores. As the nations of Europe rebuilt, their factories came online and their social institutions such as schools followed suit. We can see that turning point reflected in 1970, when we first began to have major manufacturing competition, and our wages plateaued. Test scores follow the same pattern, where our students resumed roughly the same level they occupied before the war broke out.
That's not to say there aren't problems with education in America; the largest being local control of school districts. The theory goes that the closer a service provider is to those using the services, the better, and more efficient the delivery of those services will be. In many ways it is a holdover of the nation's founding, where Americans were skeptical of centralized government as found under a king, and preferred decentralization to spread power and responsibility among many entities.
The problem is this results in at least 50 different education policies, as each state has some kind of state-wide educational authority. Within each state are any number of school districts to administer education to those students. In effect, for every 20,000 students or so, there is a whole bureaucracy that must be paid and maintained to administer local education at a district level. Depending on its size, a city may have one or more separate districts for elementary education and others for high school education.
In a time when resources are scarce, why do we cling to a model of local government that duplicates effort so often? Surely this isn't efficient. It may also be harmful to students. By uniting two districts, the cost in administration saved could provide improvements in teaching such as computer use, better teacher salaries (for those that have earned them based on performance), and better buildings. The local control model is costly, and for what benefit?
In general terms, to be a successful American my children need to know certain things. Are these things different in one district in one city than they are in another city? Are they different between states? I understand regional emphasis on agriculture in the Midwest for example, but the basics aren't that different--math has universal application, as does basic reading and critical thinking skills, regardless of where they are learned. Are parts of our nation so much different that we can't centralize the education system to use money to educate children instead of feeding a monstrous web of hungry bureaucracies? The answer to that question is pretty clear.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Capitalism Hits the Fan
I saw the full video on Free Speech TV, and little I could write would more directly explain the American economy since the end of WWII, and the structural flaws within our economic system.
In order to know where we are, we need to know where we've been. As a fan of history I was 90% of the way to where Professor Richard D. Wolff was headed on my own. While I don't agree with his final conclusions about how to remedy the situation we're facing, the full video is food for thought. I highly recommend the video to anyone interested in why we are now in economic uncertainty.
Monday, May 9, 2011
On unemployment
There are some basic facts we should be aware of before starting any discussion on unemployment. Most important is that the unemployment rate as discussed in the media is a contrived number, produced by monthly telephone surveys. If someone has been looking for work for more than four weeks, the Current Population Survey does not count them as actively looking for work, and does not then officially consider them unemployed--in the minds of the CPS, they are no longer part of the labor market at all.
The implication of this in a period of economic downturn is that anyone unemployed for more than a month is not counted in the official unemployment rate. The recent upward adjustment of the unemployment rate does not reflect those people who have been without work for more than a month, making the real unemployment rate much higher.
Since those people are not considered part of the labor market, by dint of the way the figure is calculated, they could be counted once again if they meet the criteria for looking for work. Thus the economy could improve, and the unemployment rate could go up as more of those who were not counted are now counted.
Given this, the unemployment rate is not a reliable number. It depends on phone calls, so does not reflect those who do not have phones, or do not answer when they are called. The CPS does not call everyone in America who has a phone either, but rather conducts a small sample and extrapolates that information out to the general population based on what is known about the population's demographics. Those demographics are known from the US Census, which is conducted once every ten years. People will move, die, be born, etc during that time, and so the demographics of the nation change between the census. Having just completed the census, the information we have on the nation's demographics is as accurate as it ever will be until the next one, but get less accurate with every year that passes. Therefore the information gleaned from the phone surveys is less accurate with every year that passes, as well.
A literature review on unemployment issues shows that the five most salient points about unemployment are:
1. The individual's skill level--how much they know, and how much their skills match what employers are looking for.
2. Spatial accessibility--how physically close a person is to where jobs are.
3. An individual's social networks--who they know that is working for an employer that is hiring.
4. Immigration--competing especially with the lower rung of the economic ladder, or those with the least/no skills.
5. Outsourcing--employers move factories overseas in pursuit of ever cheaper labor costs.
In the US the first issue is addressed through public or private education. Once beyond college age, there is little public assistance for the further construction of skill sets; neither is there for so called "blue collar" jobs, which are largely left to private, for-profit schools. An individual may take out student loans to attend these schools (or go back to college). The US is one of the only industrialized nations in the world where job retraining is not "free." Sweden, for example, makes enrollment in such programs mandatory for anyone receiving unemployment benefits.
Spatial accessibility is especially tough for workers in rural areas and Indian reservations as they tend not to be close to where the most work is located. Even within metropolitan areas, however, are pockets of low-income neighborhoods that have spatial accessibility problems. Competition for residents of these areas is fierce, as they tend to have the least skills and are therefore competing against immigrants and outsourcing for jobs. Being low-income workers, spatial accessibility can be overcome by public transportation systems, however studies show that the further a person lives from where they work, the more they make. In other words, the longer the commute, the more money made by residents of low income neighborhoods. This indicates that there are few to no local jobs to be had in these areas and that the best paying work is elsewhere.
Social networks are important, as many studies have shown work depends less on what you know than who you know. At its core, social networks link the supply side of labor markets (workers) with the consumers of labor (employers). In lieu of social networks, the want-ads in newspapers or websites can substitute. However, when we look at the social networks of those in low-income areas, they can only lead the worker to more low-income work. Similarly, the children of immigrants connected to their parents' social networks are at a disadvantage as well. If your social network is full of manual labor, for example, it will likely lead you to more manual labor.
Taking all of this into account, putting people to work is more difficult than instituting a single government policy. Section 8 housing is a step in the right direction, as is disbanding and disseminating public housing residents so poverty is not so concentrated. A jobs retraining program would add flexibility to the labor market that it is currently lacking. In high school it is important to supply students with alternative social networks that give them a chance to move up the economic ladder out of poverty. Finally, the issues of immigration and job outsourcing need to be addressed, though how exactly is a complicated subject with geopolitical and economic repercussions. None of these solutions are band aids, but address the core problem of unemployment; as more than band aids, they will take time to implement and perfect.
The implication of this in a period of economic downturn is that anyone unemployed for more than a month is not counted in the official unemployment rate. The recent upward adjustment of the unemployment rate does not reflect those people who have been without work for more than a month, making the real unemployment rate much higher.
Since those people are not considered part of the labor market, by dint of the way the figure is calculated, they could be counted once again if they meet the criteria for looking for work. Thus the economy could improve, and the unemployment rate could go up as more of those who were not counted are now counted.
Given this, the unemployment rate is not a reliable number. It depends on phone calls, so does not reflect those who do not have phones, or do not answer when they are called. The CPS does not call everyone in America who has a phone either, but rather conducts a small sample and extrapolates that information out to the general population based on what is known about the population's demographics. Those demographics are known from the US Census, which is conducted once every ten years. People will move, die, be born, etc during that time, and so the demographics of the nation change between the census. Having just completed the census, the information we have on the nation's demographics is as accurate as it ever will be until the next one, but get less accurate with every year that passes. Therefore the information gleaned from the phone surveys is less accurate with every year that passes, as well.
A literature review on unemployment issues shows that the five most salient points about unemployment are:
1. The individual's skill level--how much they know, and how much their skills match what employers are looking for.
2. Spatial accessibility--how physically close a person is to where jobs are.
3. An individual's social networks--who they know that is working for an employer that is hiring.
4. Immigration--competing especially with the lower rung of the economic ladder, or those with the least/no skills.
5. Outsourcing--employers move factories overseas in pursuit of ever cheaper labor costs.
In the US the first issue is addressed through public or private education. Once beyond college age, there is little public assistance for the further construction of skill sets; neither is there for so called "blue collar" jobs, which are largely left to private, for-profit schools. An individual may take out student loans to attend these schools (or go back to college). The US is one of the only industrialized nations in the world where job retraining is not "free." Sweden, for example, makes enrollment in such programs mandatory for anyone receiving unemployment benefits.
Spatial accessibility is especially tough for workers in rural areas and Indian reservations as they tend not to be close to where the most work is located. Even within metropolitan areas, however, are pockets of low-income neighborhoods that have spatial accessibility problems. Competition for residents of these areas is fierce, as they tend to have the least skills and are therefore competing against immigrants and outsourcing for jobs. Being low-income workers, spatial accessibility can be overcome by public transportation systems, however studies show that the further a person lives from where they work, the more they make. In other words, the longer the commute, the more money made by residents of low income neighborhoods. This indicates that there are few to no local jobs to be had in these areas and that the best paying work is elsewhere.
Social networks are important, as many studies have shown work depends less on what you know than who you know. At its core, social networks link the supply side of labor markets (workers) with the consumers of labor (employers). In lieu of social networks, the want-ads in newspapers or websites can substitute. However, when we look at the social networks of those in low-income areas, they can only lead the worker to more low-income work. Similarly, the children of immigrants connected to their parents' social networks are at a disadvantage as well. If your social network is full of manual labor, for example, it will likely lead you to more manual labor.
Taking all of this into account, putting people to work is more difficult than instituting a single government policy. Section 8 housing is a step in the right direction, as is disbanding and disseminating public housing residents so poverty is not so concentrated. A jobs retraining program would add flexibility to the labor market that it is currently lacking. In high school it is important to supply students with alternative social networks that give them a chance to move up the economic ladder out of poverty. Finally, the issues of immigration and job outsourcing need to be addressed, though how exactly is a complicated subject with geopolitical and economic repercussions. None of these solutions are band aids, but address the core problem of unemployment; as more than band aids, they will take time to implement and perfect.
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