Professor David Pettinicchio is a faculty member at the University of Toronto, Mississauga with expertise in the area of political sociology and social policy. He, together with Michelle Maroto of the University of Alberta, recently published a piece on the Huffington Post Contributor platform. The entire post can be found on the Huffington Post. The following is an excerpt of the longer article.
Hillary Clinton’s America: “The America I Know and Love”
By David Pettinicchio and Michelle Maroto
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have presented two different pictures of the U.S. economy, especially when it comes to unemployment. Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton has played up many of the economic gains made throughout Barack Obama’s presidency – including the significant decline in the number of long-term unemployed Americans since 2008. But she has also had to contend with inequality and disadvantage that has persisted since her husband, Bill Clinton’s, presidency.
Hillary reminded viewers of the economic prosperity associated with Bill Clinton’s years in office at the second presidential debate: “it’s not just because I watched my husband take a $300 billion deficit and turn it into a $200 billion surplus and 23 million new jobs were created and incomes went up for everybody. Everybody. African-American incomes went up 33 percent.”
The so-called “new economy” of the 1990s saw about ten years of continuous economic growth as well as the largest jobs increase in U.S. history. However, throughout the 1990s, troubling labor market trends also negatively impacted many American workers, including workers from historically marginalized and disadvantaged groups: the rise of less stable and lower paying jobs; the declining influence of labor unions; and persistent labor market segmentation disproportionately affecting women, African Americans, and people with disabilities.