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Article: Slow work force growth: a challenge for the Midwest?
- Article from:
- Economic Perspectives
- Article date:
- June 22, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Introduction and summary
During the mid-1980s, demographers and work force analysts began forecasting slower work force growth and tighter labor markets as the last of the so-called baby boomers entered the work force and rising female work force participation began to level off (Johnston and Packer, 1987). Employers were warned that the shrinking pool of new workers, along with their increasing diversity, would present new challenges in obtaining and managing a productive work force. In the Midwest, such concerns seemed very remote. Throughout much of the 1970s, 1980s, and very early 1990s, employment demand was weak and migration of workers from the Midwest was ...