Betsey Stevenson, Columnist

More Labor Strife Is Coming to the US Economy

An uncertain economic outlook makes both workers and employers reluctant to make concessions.

September 21, 2023 at 10:30 AM UTC

Betsey Stevenson is a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. She was on the president’s Council of Economic Advisers and was chief economist at the US Department of Labor.

Expect more of this.
Photographer: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images North America

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Labor strikes aren’t cheap. Equipment sits idle. Supply chains get gummed up. Workers lose wages, shareholders lose profits, governments lose tax revenue. All these effects can have an adverse impact on economic growth, employment and inflation.

Both unionized workers and their employers know the costs of work stoppages. So why don’t they reach a deal before a strike occurs? And why has there been a surge in strikes and other labor actions, which were up more than 50% in 2022 and are on track to be even higher in 2023? The answer, in a word: uncertainty.