America Gets An Ugly, Ugly Job Reports
James Pethokoukis has an in-depth analysis of today’s job report, but here’s the key fact: If the job participation rate (the number of Americans considered to be in the work force) were the same as when Obama took office the unemployment rate would be 11.2%. As it stands now, the size of the American workforce has plummeted because so many Americans have given up looking for work:
This decline is why the unemployment rate when down. Were it not for continued shrinking in the labor pool, unemployment would have gone up to 8.4%. Here’s another chart showing the civilian Employment-Population Ratio (the total number of Americans not in prison or the military contrasted with the total number of Americans with jobs):
Average hourly earnings were down. The June and July jobs reports were revised down by 41,000 jobs. The U-6 unemployment rate (which includes underemployment or people who want full-time work but are working part-time) is at 14.7%.
In short, America’s economy is not recovering. Obama’s policies have not worked.
Tags: Barack Obama, Economy, jobs
