Bush’s job creation claims misleading,reports say

[SoCalDem]

http://wvgazette.com/section/Business/2004030711

March 08, 2004
Bush’s job creation claims misleading, reports say


By Paul J. Nyden
STAFF WRITER

New jobs continue to lag far behind the Bush administration’s predictions, according to new figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

Payrolls expanded by 21,000 people in February. And government hiring, not private hiring fully accounts for the increase.

“It is a sign that employers continue to be extremely reticent about committing to permanent hires,” according to a new report released by the Economic Policy Institute on Friday.

Hourly wages increased by just 1.6 percent during the past 12 months, the weakest annual rate increase since 1986, according to EPI.

Lawrence Mishel, president of EPI, said during a telephone news conference on Friday, “Job losses have been deepest in the industrial Midwest, which is also the electoral battleground.
snip............

[mhr]

1. True Unemployment Rate Is 7.4% From The EPI Analysis

Snip ......

A recent Economic Policy Institute report (available at www.epinet.org) discussed the “missing labor force” overlooked in many calculations.

“The number of unemployed workers (currently 8.2 million) and the national unemployment rate of 5.6 percent in February do not adequately convey the true labor slack in the economy,” the report states.

Official government unemployment rates fail to include the decline in “labor force participation” during the current recession that began in early 2001.

“There is what can be called a ‘missing labor force’ of 2,808,000 workers who ... have either dropped out entirely, or failed to enter the labor market, because of the lack of jobs.”

If members of the “missing labor force” were included, the nation’s unemployment rate would increase from 5.6 percent to 7.4 percent, EPI economists state.

Snip .....

[JPace]

2. How many high school and college graduates enter

the job market for the first time each year?

I am interested in why these young new workers
are not counted when statistics are thrown around.

[mhr]

4. The Economy Needs Roughly 125,000 New Jobs Every Month

Just to handle growth from new entrants.

This would include high school and college graduates and new immigrants.

That 125,000 per month is before the 2.3 million jobs lost under * are restored.

So essentially, with the current rate of job creation the country is losing ground every month as more workers chase fewer potential jobs.

[Robroy]

6. I read somewhere..

that approximately 150,000 people enter the labor force each month. If so, then if we're not creating that number of jobs each month we are experiencing a net job loss, which translates into 129,000 net job loss for February. Re-investment in America is way past due.

[trumad]

3. Let's see

Clinton inherited 7.2 and got it down to what??...4.2

Bush inherited 4.2 and got it up to what?..7.4

[Name removed]

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[BOSSHOG]

5. bush's administration has to lie to the American People

because they cannot afford to tell the truth (SOTU - 2003 for example). The administration and the rnc know, however, that millions of americans will swallow whatever they are told to. It is a sad indictment on our body politic. However, bush has increased the job market for people employed to correct his errors. There is plenty of overtime available in that line of work.

[ParanoidPat]

9. 8.2 million unemployed people are not going to swallow.....

.....the administrations excuse that we are all just too lazy to get a job! :evilgrin:

We're going to need every one of those unemployed to retool Americas job market by becoming the worlds leader in alternative energy technologies.
IMHO, that's the only way to save our country both economically and from the standpoint of having reached 'peak oil' production.

[Name removed]

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[Crachet2004]

10. You know what pisses me off most about the high unemployment rate?

The fact that all my adult life, we have been told that high unemployment in Europe was due to their 'cradle to grave' welfare state! That these nations would eventually become insolvent, under the vast financial weight of social programs for their people.

And here we are, 30 years later, with unemployment as bad or worse than western europe, and they STILL have ten times the benefits we EVER had...and we owe, heaven only knows, how much more than the rest of the world combined! Yeah! We not only have nothing much in the way of social welfare, but we OWE more than can probably ever be paid back! And look at the Dollar vesus the Euro...that alone shows which is the more powerful system, 'cradle to grave', and all!

And now they are using the debt as a threat to Social Security.

And we have a new Bogey, to keep us in line-Terrorism.

The American People need to wake up.