Much of the presidential campaign sloganeering is now centered around who can best save the middle class and help them get good jobs. So let's address that issue herein.
Are we making progress on the path to salvation? Should we stay the course and not turn back, as the President says?
Or is the news in fact getting worse for that very middle class we're working so hard to save? In fact, each time we look closely at the numbers reported we see a weak employment situation for the middle class.
For one thing, there aren't enough jobs. We all know that.
But besides the shortage of jobs, there's also a serious lack of enough good paying jobs. And a serious lack of enough full time jobs, too.
Questions About Quality of Jobs Created is about the kinds of jobs as opposed to the number of jobs being added to the equation:
"Jobs day is about numbers. But even after the unexpected decline of
September’s unemployment rate to 7.8% in Friday’s report, you also have to look
at some words.
One word is polarization. That word appeared in the minutes of the most
recent meeting of the Federal Reserve‘s monetary policy setting
Federal Open Market Committee. . . .
“It was also suggested that there was an ongoing process of polarization in
the labor market, with the share of job opportunities in middle-skill
occupations continuing to decline while the shares of low and high skill
occupations increased.” . . .
Presumably, monetary policy isn’t designed to affect polarization. Long-term
issues about public education, access to higher education, tax policy, start-up
incentives, trade issues and more help determine what sorts of jobs are created
and who is qualified to fill them.
The other phrase of interest Friday is part time. Analysts and others poring
over the September jobs data, which showed a rise in total employment by
873,000, according to the Labor Department’s survey of households, have noted a
big increase in part-time positions among those who would prefer full-time
employment.
Based on Labor data, there were some 582,000 new part-time jobs created that
are included in the Labor category of “part time for economic reasons.” There
were in September 8,613,000 jobs in that group, up from 8,031,000 the prior
month.
It’s instructive to read the footnote on the Labor Department table that
contains this data, allowing words to give a better sense of the numbers.
It reads: “Refers to those who worked one to 34 hours during the reference
week for an economic reason such as slack work or unfavorable business
conditions, inability to find full-time work, or seasonal declines in
demand.”
Both sides in the presidential campaign talk about aiding the middle class.
Given words such as polarization and part time, it is easy to understand."
Summing Up
We are hollowing out the middle class work force at the very same time we're purportedly making every effort to save that middle class. That's polarization.
And we're not providing full time middle class employment for the jobs that are being created. That's the part time effect.
Staying the course means screwing the middle class. That's my take on what the key words (1) polarization and (2) part time have come to mean in America today.
Current government efforts to save the middle class are in fact hurting the middle class and every other American citizen as well.
We're killing our chances to have a prosperous middle class and fully employed citizenry if we're looking to government intervention and bureaucrats to get the U.S. economy moving forward at a rapid and sustainable rate.
The answer to our economic prosperity and employment problems can only be found in the private sector. It's stupid to think and act otherwise, even if it does win votes.
And this display of economic ignorance, whether real or feigned, is all being done in the name of saving the middle class.
What a crock!
Thanks. Bob.
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