For Too Many, the Job Market Isn't Working

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) For all the encouraging headlines that the strong June jobs report has generated, it also illustrates a major challenge for the U.S. economy: Too many people are still not working or not even trying to find work.

The malaise can be remedied, if we can find the political will.

Despite the robust job growth of the past six years, people still aren’t participating in the labor force the way they used to. As of June, just 62.7 percent of the population had a job or was actively seeking one -- up a bit from the previous month, but still almost 5 percentage points below the 2000 peak.

One explanation is demographic: As the population ages, a larger percentage will naturally be retired. This explains about half of the decline in participation, and will keeping putting downward pressure on participation -- particularly as the baby-boom generation crosses the retirement threshold. The Congressional Budget Office expects the labor-force participation rate to decline another 2 percentage points by 2026.

Still, even if we look at people in the prime working years of 25 to 54, participation is depressed. At the beginning of 2000, 84 percent of prime-age adults were in the labor force. Today, only 81 percent are. .................(more)

http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-07-08/for-too-many-the-job-market-isn-t-working

[Joanie Baloney]

1. I can attest to that

I have been un/underemployed for 3 years and counting now. I used to get called in for multiple interviews and then no offers. I try hard not to blame it on ageism, but that is getting more and more difficult. Today I got a call from Covered CA telling me my income doesn't match my estimate from last year and I am now below the federal poverty level and must be put on MediCal. I have stopped caring. It is still 2 years before I can go on MediCare and/or retirement. Bad times. Bad times.

-JB

[Mass]

2. Main problem is low wages.

In the area where I live, many people would benefit from a minimum wage at $15/hr. Supervisors in the large company my husband works for are paid $15/hr, which means everybody who work for them works for less, for example.

In addition, around us, we see older people fired and replaced by young people hired at low wages. This leads to a huge number of foreclosures for people who have bought a house and got fired, while others have a hard time qualifying for a loan in an area where houses are expensive.

[AdHocSolver]

3. There is a simple solution to the lack of jobs: create demand for American-made goods.

The big problem is that most people's understanding of economics is based on "trickle-down economics".

This misunderstanding is due to the fact that most people are incapable of challenging the "experts".

The "experts" present statistics, charts, graphs, and tables to overwhelm the public in order to stifle any challenge to the nonsense that they spout.

How economies work is relatively easy to understand and very logical. It has nothing to do with capitalism.

Capitalism is NOT an economic system. It is a political system that determines what sector of a population has control of the economy and thus controls who benefits from the economy.

All economies operate the same way. All economies are driven by demand and supply.

Demand is where people have a desire to obtain particular goods and services and have the means to acquire those goods and services either through trade or by having the money to spend.

Supply is where people have the ability to supply those goods and services and are willing to make a trade for different goods and services or for money.

Demand and supply drive all economics. Profit does not drive the economy. Profit is only a measure of who gets the benefit of the economic activity.

There is no such economic category as "free trade". If there were really "free trade" as the corporate 1 percent continue to claim, then there would be plenty of good paying jobs in the U.S. Moreover, there would be plenty of good paying jobs in China.

There is only "corporate controlled" trade in which the largest corporations determine who produces what is manufactured, what prices and wages are paid, and who gets the "profit".

The trade is controlled politically through such so-called trade agreements as NAFTA and the proposed TPP.

So, what should be done to make new jobs in the U.S.?

Bring back manufacturing jobs to the U.S. by supporting policies that make American-made goods competitive. In other words, eliminate the trade deficit for the everyday goods that Americans buy.

Increase the minimum wage so that Americans can afford to buy what is manufactured in America.

No more corporate written trade agreements.