Pimco’s El-Erian Sees ‘Lost Decade’ for U.S. Jobs: Tom Keene

From Bloomberg.

By Mary Childs and Tom Keene

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- A “lost decade” in U.S. employment reflects a change in the structure of the nation’s labor market, according to Mohamed A. El-Erian, chief executive officer at Pacific Investment Management Co.

“This country has very weak safety nets,” he said in a radio interview today on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “It is built on the assumption that our labor markets are very flexible, that if you lose your job in California you move somewhere else, you get another job, and what we’re seeing is structural unemployment.”

Global growth will be below average during the next three to five years as developed economies struggle with mounting deficits and increased regulation in the wake of the 2008 collapse of credit markets, said El-Erian, who is also co-chief investment officer at Pimco...