Fareed Zakaria talks jobs, warns of ‘lost generation’ on “In the Arena”

On “In the Arena,” CNN host and TIME editor-at-large/columnist Fareed Zakaria says the U.S. must retrain long-term unemployed Americans or risk creating a “lost generation.” Zakaria talks about his TIME article on jobs, which is part of CNN’s In-Depth cross-platform series “America’s Job Hunt,” in partnership with CNN Money and TIME.

Zakaria says, “You’re talking about a whole generation of workers in their 40s and 50s who need to be retrained. I think this is a place where you need the government. You need academia, the educational institutions and industry, private sector to work together….You need something on the order of the G.I. bill…where you really change people’s lives.”

He continues, “If you look at the American economy right now, we are back to pre-crisis level of GDP which is about $13.5 trillion….We’re producing the same number of goods and services as we did in 2007 with seven million fewer workers….We are achieving productivity where you can get GDP growth without hiring more people, in fact, by firing people….Technology is replacing people.”