"For Every One Job Added, Nearly 5 People Left the Workforce"

I pointed out the negative aspects of the jobs report for younger Americans earlier this morning, but here’s Senator Jeff Sessions making an important point about the jobs report as a whole:

Today’s jobs report underscores a deeper problem facing our economy: a large and growing block of people who are chronically jobless and completely outside the workforce. In December, the economy added only 74,000 jobs – not nearly enough to keep up with population growth –and 347,000 left the workforce. That means for every one job added, nearly 5 people left the workforce entirely. There are now nearly 92 million Americans outside the workforce, resulting in the lowest participation rate in 36 years.

And then there’s this from ZeroHedge:

Once again, in its sheer panic to tout the quantity, or lack thereof, in the case of the December jobs number, the frenzied media and pundits completely ignored the quality of the jobs gained in the last month of December. Or lack thereof. Because as the simple breakdown below shows, of the 74K jobs gained in December, 55%, or 40K were the worst of the lot when it comes to wages or benefits: temporary jobs.

If we look at jobs added by industry temp help, and low-paying retail/trade jobs, gained 111,000 jobs. That growth was offset in losses in better-paying career fields.

Not only is the workforce getting smaller, but the quality of jobs available is declining.