let's measure the job market the way we gauge stock market health

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/let-s-measure-job-market-way-we-gauge-stock-market-health-1403356524



Have you noticed that the Powers that Be employ a different standard for measuring the health of America’s job market than they use for the stock market?

They’re currently telling us that the job market is “improving.” What do they mean?

Simply that the economy is generating more jobs for workers. But when they talk about the stock market “improving,” they don’t mean that the number of stocks investors may purchase is on the rise. Instead, they’re measuring whether assets are generally getting more valuable and making investors richer.

As a worker, you don’t merely want to know that 200,000 new jobs are on the market. You want to know what they’re worth: Do they pay living wages, do they come with benefits, are they just part-time and temporary, do they include union rights, and what are the working conditions? In other words, are these jobs or are they scams?And isn’t value what really counts for workers and investors alike?

So, it’s interesting that the recent news of job market “improvement” doesn’t mention that of the 10 occupation categories projecting the greatest growth in the near future, only one pays a middle-class wage. Four pay barely above poverty level, and five pay beneath it, including fast food workers, retail sales staff, health aides, and janitors.

[bradla]

1. A job is a job.

Maybe we should go back to losing 800,000 a month for some perspective. We are now approaching a record number of months of job growth. All I hear are complaints about the economy. Those jobs that we lost in 2007 and 2008 were artificial jobs from a housing and banking bubble. Why would anybody think we are going to replace them with equal paying jobs. America is now a retail economy. At least it appears we are not in a bubble right now. Now if you want to have a discussion about the job market starting from the 1980s that would be a better discussion. Technology and sending jobs to China have caused long lasting damage to factory jobs. This coupled with the destruction of unions.

[rock]

2. As usual

You have an accurate take on things.