70% Of Jobs Added In January Were Minimum Wage Waiters And Retail Workers

[pinqy]

As time goes by some statistics lose their relevance. Historically, the "Unemployment Rate" was a pretty good indication of how many people who wanted to work and were actually working. They took the total population that was employed, added the number of people who were actively looking for work, then created a fraction with the work-lookers over the total of working and looking. The result was theoretically the percentage of people who wanted to work but had not found employment. "Full employment" was considered to be an Unemployment Rate in the neighborhood of 4%, on the theory that 1/25 of the working population would be, from time to time, between jobs.

Correct. And that has not changed.

But since the Great Recession the whole employment landscape has changed. "Good jobs" were lost by the millions and people were forced to confront new realities. Families that had previously lived on, and depended upon, two full-time incomes were forced to scale back and either live on one income, or a combination of part-time jobs. People in their 50's and older who had planned to work to full retirement age or beyond, found that they could not find anything, and decided to bite the bullet and retire early. Young adults who lost their jobs moved back in with their parents and basically gave up on the idea of full-time employment.

Part-time jobs became, rather than something to make "extra" money in your spare time, a way of supporting yourself. Barely.

Now we also have the un-mentioned phenomenon of hordes of High School grads pursuing college for no other reason than THERE ARE NO JOBS FOR THEM IN THE ECONOMY. Middle class kids who, in previous generations would have gone to work in a gas station or at the mill, or in construction, now are confronted with either going to college or staying home and being harassed by the parents continually because they don't "do" anything.

Generally correct in the demographic changes you're talking about, but the economic causes you're blaming is speculation. And none of it changes the usefullness of the UE rate.

The fact that these Yoots are not counted in unemployment statistics is a significant driver in Democrats' current obsession for "free college" for everyone. And of course this ignores the destructive effects on the colleges of having students who are not, by any sane definition, "college material." What do they study, and for how long, and how much debt will they accumulate? The mind reels.

So the Unemployment Rate became less relevant because it failed to take any notice of the large number of people who wanted to work but for one reason or another stopped looking (or never started looking) actively. They basically gave up.

There have always been such. And they are tracked, and the number has been going down.

BLS ought to take some of their mountain of data and develop a new statistical standard that counts the number of Full-Time Equivalent Jobs earning a minimum of $40k (adjusted for inflation) (hereinafter referred to as "Good Jobs") versus the total population, and track that number over time, as compared with the adult population.

Too subjective, and completely arbitrary. And the income data from the Current Population Survey are notoriously unreliable. ..The CPS allows secondary reporting (one respondent answers for the entire household) and people tend to guess their income. Add on that that's the main subject people don't want to answer and it's difficult to get anything useful out them.

To wit, what percentage of the adult population held Good Jobs in 2008 versus 2015?

This statistic, if published, would paint a much more realistic - and much gloomier - picture of the trend in the American employment picture over time than the Unemployment Rate, which is below 5% now, but near meaningless. Does anybody seriously believe that the employment picture in the U.S. has been improving as that Unemployment Rate has gone down over the past 6 years?

It has. Job openings have gone up. The number of discouraged is almost one third of what it was during the Recession. Not all aspects of the Labor Market have improved, but most have.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Not all aspects of the Labor Market have improved, but most have.

yep, they have but income is down and more people than ever are dissatisfied with the low wage part time 2% gig economy. It has been the slowest and worst recovery since Great Depression when another huge liberals ass was in power!!

 

[fbj]

I thought Government Jobs were stable?

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

I thought Government Jobs were stable?

I think they are probably more stable than private sector jobs

 

[fbj]

I thought Government Jobs were stable?

I think they are probably more stable than private sector jobs

What reason would someone be laid off from a government job?

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

I thought Government Jobs were stable?

I think they are probably more stable than private sector jobs

What reason would someone be laid off from a government job?

you hear about it all the time because of budget cuts but generally the jobs are far more stable than private sector jobs and they pay almost twice as much!!


State governments employed about 4.3 million workers nationwide in 2012, more than double the total 50 years ago. More recently, state payrolls recorded slight declines after years of slow growth leading up to the recession.

 

[AdvancingTime]

The government is the smallest it has been in fifty years.

I beg to differ. The government has quietly expanded through many "quasi government organizations," these by nature reach out to expand the influence and power of their directors. Instead of focusing on the business of government and simplicity, this new proactive movement, disguised in the shawl of flexible and diversity is being expanded, and we are paying the tab. Government is proud of pet projects, it allows bureaucrats to experiment and try new things without the personal financial risk of a businessman, they are creative on our dime This is a problem for concern. The best time to kill a monster is while its still small, that time has passed, now we can only hope to slow its growth through starvation, and that is unlikely. They article below looks at how many of these groups are not even seen as "government."

http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2012/12/government-includes-quasi-government.html

 

[JakeStarkey]

I posted the job numbers,so beg to differ all you want, AT.

 

[Sun Devil 92]

But the republicans want to cut r&d and science jobs that are a high percentage of our high paying jobs. Republican trade and inability to stop massive corps from killing off all the competition has done this.

Please tell me what sustains them as high paying jobs.

I am curious about how you think this works.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

But the republicans want to cut r&d and science jobs that are a high percentage of our high paying jobs. Republican trade and inability to stop massive corps from killing off all the competition has done this.

Republicans are generally for free trade and international competition. Democrats oppose both. For example, Democrats dominate health care and have made national competition illegal, and thats 20% of the entire economy. Do you understand these basics?