03.12.04
No So Great News
From {{link http://www.stratnews.com Strategic News Service}}:
What is the latest news? Not good. Let’s look at the jobs figures for a moment. The latest figures showed a 21K pickup in jobs, about 10% of what would be required to simply maintain employment levels at past GDP growth rates. But at least companies are hiring again, right? Wrong. If you dig a bit, you find out that all of these hires were done by the government, not by corporations. Very bad news. That means, from a business perspective, no new jobs were created last month. Zero.
Of course, it gets worse. If you look more closely at unemployment, two aspects leap out at you. Here they are, in numbers: in 2003, one half of all black males from 16 to 64 were unemployed. That’s right, 50%. What’s all this talk about 5-6%, Whitey?
And here’s the other: while the current administration trumpets the fall in employment from June last year (6.3%) to now (5.6%), this figure appears to be measuring the disappearance of the young from those seeking jobs. The labor-force participation rate of 16-24 year-olds hit a 32-year low in December, according to BusinessWeek, at 60.5% – thereby accounting for ALL of the fall in the employment rate. What if those kids were still looking for jobs? The current unemployment rate would be 6.6%.
The next time someone cites productivity increases or lower benefits costs for these great low unemployment figures, just laugh at them. Better yet, tell them the truth.