The Future of American Jobs

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When: Friday, April 30, 2010 • 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Where: The Washington Court Hotel, Grand Ballroom • 525 New Jersey Ave., NW • Washington, DC

Media Inquiries: Karen Anderson • 202-797-6023 • kanderson@brookings.edu

General Inquiries: Kristina Gerken • 202-797-4360 • kgerken@brookings.edu

 
 

The Great Recession has deepened a long-term trend (briefly reversed in the late 1990s) toward a hollowing out of America's middle class, with job growth predominantly at lower and higher incomes and growing wage inequality. Even after the job losses of the recession are erased, a deeper challenge remains: how to create good, well-paid jobs to sustain and grow America's middle class.

The Hamilton Project and the Center for American Progress hosted the first of two conferences addressing the implications of the competitive global economy and rapid technological change for the challenge of creating high-paying jobs in the United States. The conference featured the release of a new paper by MIT economics professor David Autor that analyzes the long-term trends in employment, earnings, and job opportunities, followed by two panels of academics, policy thinkers, and policymakers, and capped off with a thought-provoking dialogue between one of the President's top economic advisors and the mayor of the nation's largest city.

Agenda

Opening Remarks

John Podesta
President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for American Progress

Robert E. Rubin
Co-Chair, Council on Foreign Relations
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary

The State of the U.S. Labor Market

David Autor
Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Panel Discussion: Economic Growth and Job Creation

Alan J. Auerbach
Professor of Economics, University of California Berkley

Michael Greenstone
Director, The Hamilton Project; Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Alan B. Krueger
Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, Treasury Department

John van Reenen
Director, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics

Moderator: Chrystia Freeland
Global Editor-at-Large, Reuters

Panel Discussion: The American Worker

Ron Blackwell
Chief Economist, AFL-CIO

Heather Boushey
Senior Economist, Center for American Progress

Lawrence Katz
Professor of Economics, Harvard University

Cecilia Rouse
President's Council of Economic Advisers

Moderator: Greg Ip
U.S. Economics Editor, The Economist

Closing Session

Moderator:
Charlie Rose
Host, Charlie Rose

Michael Bloomberg
Mayor, New York City

Lawrence H. Summers
Director, National Economic Council