During the 1980s the increasing participation rates of women stabilized and the boomers were followed by the baby bust. By putting on the growth brakes too soon, many involuntarily unemployed workers will still be denied meaningful work. This helps to keep inflation low by offsetting any wage pressures. Insecure workers have little ability to ask for raises. The global economy makes it easier to shift jobs into overseas production when domestic wage pressure build.
Foreign production provides a relief valve to domestic wage pressures.
Higher worker productivity helps maintain the nation's standard of living by keeping inflation under control and boosting the competitiveness of U.S. products overseas. People who have been laid off from their jobs due to poor macroeconomic conditions are part of cyclical unemployment that corresponds to fluctuations in economic growth rates. The solution to a rise in the rate of unemployment due to a recession or economic slowdown is simply to increase the growth rate of the economy. As economic activity picks up, firms will increase hiring and the number of unemployed will decrease. Even as renewed economic vigor allows many unemployed people to return to work, unemployment rates do not fall to zero.