Economy Said to Be on the Rise.

Despite a report in a September edition of the Economist that proclaimed the conclusion of America’s longest economic recession since World War II, experts say that there is still a long way to go until financial stability is reached.

The report determined that the recession was over by recognizing a steady recovery from an economic trough that occurred in June 2009. Joshua Rosenbloom, a professor of economics at the University of Kansas, compared the official conclusion of this recession to that of the Great Depression. He said that while economists claimed the Depression only lasted from 1929 to 1933, most Americans didn’t truly feel a change until the beginning of World War II.

“When you hit bottom and begin to go back up, you have ended the recession and you are technically in a period of recovery,” Rosenbloom said. “Does that correspond to a feeling that everything’s all better? No. In that sense, the economy is still suffering. A lot of this is truly about terminology.”

The lack of available jobs is apparent in the East community. Economics teacher Rebecca Murphy has seen an increase in the number of her former students that go to graduate school after college rather than joining the work force. Murphy said that this has made job competition even more fierce, because college graduates are forced to compete for the same jobs against students with even higher education.

The past two summers, junior Morgan Denton experienced this kind of competition firsthand. Denton applied to seven different businesses last summer, and wasn’t hired by any. This past summer, he applied to three more, and was hired at the new Peachwave frozen yogurt store.

“Last summer, none of the places I went to were hiring, whereas this year I looked for the hiring places,” Denton said. “Overall, it was probably harder [to get a job in this economic climate] because businesses didn’t want to hire more people.”

While Denton believes he was not hired last summer because he was so young, he also saw the benefits of his youth in two instances.

“[Two businesses] said they were hiring younger workers because of the economy and they didn’t want to pay people as much,” Denton said. “They could pay younger workers less.”

Rosenbloom said he can potentially see situations like this playing out, especially with the trickle-down effect that has caused more and more adults to compete with kids for the same jobs. He said businesses are often forced to find a balance with the knowledge that they get what they pay for.

Senior Duncan Gibbs has found himself on the positive side of this balance. Gibbs has worked at Einstein Bros in Prairie Village for two years, and he thinks his employer is mindful of the difficulties teenagers are having in the job market.

“They do a really good job of hiring high school students,” Gibbs said. “They try to help out the community and probably have four or five kids at a time that are high school students.”

Despite efforts like the one made by Einstein Bros., Murphy said that unemployment is still above the typical five percent that one can expect at any given time. Donna Ginther, also a professor of economics at the University of Kansas, doesn’t expect that number to improve in the next year.

“Watch the unemployment numbers and job creation numbers” Ginther said. “Firms are profitable, but they’re not growing, so they’re not creating jobs. When you see jobs stabilize and start to improve, then you’re going to see the economy doing much better.”

Senior Vince Parsons, Gibbs’ co-worker at Einstein Bros., hopes to see the recovery continue and improve from its current jobless state.

“It would definitely make it a lot easier for a teen to get a job,” Parsons said. “Local businesses would probably be hurt most by the recession. They have less opportunities to hire since they’re not as big of a business. With the economy being better, they can branch out more.”

Rosenbloom said that one of the keys to economic growth will be changing a psychological cycle that is currently ongoing. Consumers are lacking confidence in their job security, which keeps them from spending money. This lack of spending then forces businesses to make cuts in staff and budget. Once this cycle is broken, consumers can feel more comfortable in keeping their jobs and spending money.

Murphy hopes that any growth within businesses can be combined with more employer-employee loyalty. She remembers not only the way her father was rewarded with raises and bonuses during prosperous times at Black and Veatch, but also the way the company stuck with him through difficult times. Murphy said she doesn’t see this kind of loyalty as often these days.

“We got on a cycle where companies started looking at workers as resources,” Murphy said. “At some point, we have to redevelop a little bit of that employee-employer loyalty to each other to work through the hard times.”