The Problem of Unemployment in the United States: A Survey of 60 Years of National and State Policy Initiatives

Abstract

In the context of four types of unemployment, 23 federally initiated programs spanning six decades are critically surveyed in terms of their effectiveness at reducing unemployment. In addition, this article examines the ongoing policy debates raised by the myriad of programs and the linkage of recent research on the nature of unemployment to policy issues. Since the responsibility for formulating employment policies has significantly shifted from national to state and local government over the last decade, the evolution of state policy in this area is also surveyed and contrasted with its historical national counterpart.