Robert Reich: The Job Stall

[marmar]

The Job Stall
Friday, June 1, 2012


The White House must be telling itself there are still five months between now and Election Day, so the jobs picture could brighten. After all, we went through a similar mid-year slump in 2011 but came out fine.

But however you look at today’s jobs report, it’s a stunning reminder of how anemic the recovery has been – and how perilously close the nation is to falling into another recession.

Not only has the unemployment rate risen for the first time in almost a year, to 8.2 percent, but, more ominously, May’s payroll survey showed that employers created only 69,000 net new jobs. The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised its March and April reports downward. Only 96,000 new jobs have been created, on average, over the last three months.

Put this into perspective. Between December and February, the economy added an average of 252,000 jobs each month. To go from 252,000 to 96,000, on average, is a terrible slide. At least 125,000 jobs are needed a month merely to keep up with the growth in the working-age population available to work.

Face it: The jobs recovery has stalled. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://robertreich.org/post/24194975535

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. No stimulus, no growth. Your spending is my income, your spending in my income,

Krugman makes it simple enough for anyone to follow, so what's the problem in DC?

We desperately need both $2T - $7T in repair and maintenance of our national infrastructure and a massive employment program, so where's the plan? If you only pander to the extremes you only end up making it worse. If you always aim for the bare minimum you rarely achieve even that.

[Warpy]

2. I'm afraid conservatives are the problem in DC

for their asinine insistence that the economy runs from the top down even as more and more evidence piles up that choking off the demand side at the bottom is causing it to stall and fail.

Until and unless there is a sea change among voters in this country finally realizing those conservative old boys are so wedded to failed dogma that they'll destroy us all and vote them out on their asses, I'm afraid this is the way it's going to stay.

[Egalitarian Thug]

3. I have to disagree. While the radical corporatists of both parties are a substantial

obstruction, the majority of Americans simply do what their told. The problem as I see it is that only the radical corporatists are giving directions. They win because "the other side" doesn't even bother to show up to the game.