Topic: Economics
Jobs: Headlines I'd Like to See The headlines Friday were about the 533,000 jobs we lost in November. As bad as it is, it pales in comparison to the bigger picture.by Chuck Angier
(libertarian)
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The headline we heard Thursday December 4th was that initial jobless claims fell unexpectedly for the week ended November 29th by 21,000 to 509,000. The headline we didn't hear was that continuing claims increased 89,000 to 4.09 million, the highest since December of 1982. ("Jobless claims in surprise decline", CNNMoney.com, Dec. 4, 2008)
The headlines we heard Friday December 5th from the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly report is that nonfarm payroll fell by 533,000 in November, thus averaging a loss of 419,000 jobs for the last 3 months, a sharp increase over the average monthly loss of 82,000 jobs in previous 8 months. This places the unemployment rate at 6.7%, up 1.7% from the December 2007 rate of 6.0%. (Statement of Keith Hall, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, December 5th, 2008). We also heard that the November job loss is the worst since 1974. (Reuters, December 5, 2008, 3:00 PM EST)
Here are some headlines we didn't see but should:
59,893,000 Service Jobs (+208%) Gained Since 1974 While Losing 1,383,000 (-6%) Goods Producing Jobs: Why Is This Good?
2,122,000 Private Sector Jobs Lost This Year While Government Adds 211,000: Could This Be The Road To Socialism?
Government, Health Care and Education Jobs Growing Steadily While Economy Crashes and Unemployment Skyrockets: Goal is to Be Prosperous Teaching Each Other How To Take Better Care Of Ourselves
US Loses 4.5 million Manufacturing Jobs (-25%) Since 1974 Far Outpacing All Others: Welcome To The Service Economy
US Manufacturing Jobs Lowest in 58 years! 13.17 Million Manufacturing Jobs On Par With Post-War Slump of Early 1950!
We already know that Education and Health Care (and those respective jobs) are heavily funded by government. We can only imagine how many other jobs today are 1) providing service to the government; 2) created under force of law by the government; or 3) exist simply because of the burden of government, like the 632,000 private sector jobs in the tax compliance industry.
Government can create jobs, but it can't create wealth. Jobs without wealth are all for naught.
The views expressed in this
article are those of Chuck Angier only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Chuck Angier is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Maybe I'm not the only Libertarian who opposes free trade deals with 3rd world countries. In my opinion those deals are like a poison apple; it looks good and it tastes good and then you die!
Posted By: Jake, the champion of the constitution
Date: 2008-12-08 02:36:34
“Goal is to Be Prosperous Teaching Each Other How To Take Better Care Of Ourselves” I’ve scratched my head a lot of times at other job reports wondering why it was so optimistic while mfg jobs continued their decline. Great way to put it.
I am all for service jobs, at this point, any jobs! but you are right, the generation of goods is what its all about since the dawn of civilization. Not being very economically minded at the time, as a young man deciding to go to college and then work for a living, I was naive enough to not really consider other jobs that did not, at the end of the day, "make stuff." Now I am in China. Go figure.
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