“Mostly Free” Means Fewer Jobs, Less Money for Millions in U.S.
William Beach /
This year’s Index of Economic Freedom contains the unsettling news that the United States has dropped out of the exclusive club of free economies and is graded “mostly free” for the first time in the Index’s 16-year history. The United States’ Index score dropped from last year’s 80.7 to this year’s 78. For many Americans who still have their jobs and incomes, “mostly free” may feel no different than “free.” For the nearly 20 million who lack work or the millions more who find themselves working for a lot less than they did two years ago, this news may be part of the answer to their question, “Why me?”
The decline of the United States to “mostly free” means that our economy is less capable of strong, sustained economic growth than it was when it was freer. That’s bad news for the job seeker and someone starting their climb up the income ladder. The U.S. economy needs to produce a net increase in jobs of about 150,000 per month just to keep up with high school and college graduates searching for work and with those re-entering the labor force after raising a family or retraining. When average job creation falls below this level, the unemployment rate usually rises.