May Jobs Report Not Nearly Good Enough

Yesterday the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its employment situation report for May:

The Labor Department announced Friday that the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in May and that the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.6 percent, from 7.5 percent in April.

Despite the pleased tone from Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers,

While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further confirmation that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression. . . .

that’s not remotely good enough and I’ll try to explain why.

In my view the most that can be said is that it’s better than if the number of jobs had decreased. It is not true that it illustrates a good trend. 175,000 jobs is the average of the last three months. That’s not an upwards trend; it’s a constant trend. The number of jobs needed to account for the “natural increase” is about 150,000 per month. That leaves a net of 25,000 jobs. At that rate it would take 100 months, more than 8 years, to bring the people who lost their jobs during the downturn starting in 2007 back to work. That in turn would mean that some people would have been out of work for fourteen years. Putting more people to work at a faster rate is a moral necessity and it’s a scandal and an outrage that it’s not a political necessity.

Delving deeper into the report adds insult to injury. The bottom line is that the jobs being added are part-time or temp jobs that pay below the average wage. Hailing the May jobs report as a sign that we’re out of the woods is objectively lauding not enough people not being paid enough as a good thing.

I wish people would stop giving political cover to the White House and to the Congress. It is not as though there weren’t plenty of things that could be done from WPA-style federal jobs programs to subsidies for hiring people who have been out of work for an extended period to reducing payroll taxes, corporate income taxes, and regulatory barriers. Don’t just stand there; do something.

7 comments… add one
  • jan Link

    “Delving deeper into the report adds insult to injury. The bottom line is that the jobs being added are part-time or temp jobs that pay below the average wage.”

    That’s the juggernaut of the that job’s report, being the weathervane of this economy, in general. It’s a treading water kind of job’s market, which has no sustained growth to it, reflecting the short-term policies guiding the market by this administration.

  • Andy Link

    What’s interesting to me is that slow job growth is not just a US problem. Other countries, however, tend to have greater social support so the economic effect on those unemployed is less than here. Germany, for example, has the “mini jobs” program which boosts employment numbers but those employees still rely on significant government financial support.

    I think Dave has a good list of ideas. It’s too bad those ideas conflict with mainstream political ideology.

  • Comrade Icepick Link

    Hailing the May jobs report as a sign that we’re out of the woods is objectively lauding not enough people not being paid enough as a good thing.

    That is entirely what the ruling class is trying to do. Check out Mark Zuckerburg’s big push for more H1-B visas to be handed out every year. He (and those like-minded billionaires, centimillionaires and the pols and flunkies that run the country) is trying to force down wages for jobs that pay well, so that he can scrape out a little bit more out of the stock he owns.

    And this is what the American people are voting for, what the want, what they approve of. Well, that and an Orwellian police state. Solid B+!

  • Comrade Icepick Link

    jan, seriously, what makes you think the Republicans in Congress give a fuck? Right now Republican leadership is working hard to increase the number of Third World peasants that immigrate to this country to keep wages suppressed on the low end, and they’re also working hard to increase the number of H1-B visas permitted to suppress wages farther up the scale. And how often do you hear them talk about jobs? They haven’t since Romney lost the election. They don’t give a damn either, save occasionally as a talking point.

    Seriously, look at what they’re doing. Objectively they’re taking actions designed to hurt American wage earners. They’re no better than Dems, although they’re a good deal more stupid. More poor people equals more Dem votes.

  • jan Link

    Ice,

    Where did I say the republicans were doing a good job? I’m not giving kudos to anyone at the moment. However, the dems are the ones in power. So, they are the ones earning the heat right now, just like Bush did during his term with the obnoxious dems being the opposition party.

    Immigration is a double-edged sword. The immigration process is terrible and needs to be reformed. But, this comprehensive bill being pushed has so many flaws to it — similar to any bulky bill, such as the ACA, which can shovel manure along with anything that is half way helpful.

    What can I say, except that politics is a crass way to make one’s way in life.

  • Comrade Icepick Link

    The immigration process is terrible and needs to be reformed.

    Immigration needs to be halted until employment and wages are much higher than they are today.

    Dems hold the bulk of power and deserve the bulk of the blame for doing nothing, but the Republicans hold the House, and that is more than nothing. Also, if they really cared about this topic they could make an effort to put forward good proposals and then push them. If the press doesn’t cooperate, then take to social media, buy ads on TV and radio (and not just the usual outlets), and so on. They’re not doing that. Instead, they’re doing nothing on the domestic front, and on the international front they’re continuing to do everything they can to suppress wages in this country.

  • Well, I’ll just note that all of the usual Left of center commenters have not shown up in this thread to try and make lemonade out of this batch of lemons….what a shock….

    But fuck it, lets give Obama a B….hey, could it be B for Bad?

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