Planet Money: Quit Threat

About this episode

The episode explores the concept of full employment and its implications on the labor market and worker power.

From Planet Money: On today's show, we ask: What does full employment really look like? NPR sent reporters across the country, including to Ames, Iowa, the city with the lowest unemployment rate, to find out. The unemployment rate is just 3.6% in the U.S., a 50-year low. People think we are at, or near, full employment. That's the lowest the unemployment rate can go without triggering inflation. And when the labor market is that tight, power shifts from employers to workers. When unemployment is low, workers can threaten to quit and their bosses have to take that threat seriously. That's what leads to raises.

People in this episode

Host: Professor Daniel Ludwinski

Topics covered

• full employment
• unemployment rate
• labor market
• worker power
• inflation

Keywords

• full employment
• unemployment
• labor market
• inflation
• worker power

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NPR

Places: Ames, Iowa

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