Jobs growth has not even
kept pace with growth in the working-age population, much less
restored jobs lost in the recession. The working-age population
increased by 206,000 in September while new jobs grew by 114, 000,
and that's down from 141,000 in August. This isn't just a one month
phenomenon. Job growth has failed to keep up with population growth
throughout Obama's term in office. Since he became president, the
working-age population has grown by 8.4 million, far short of even
Obama's exaggerated claim to have created 5.2 million new jobs. If
one measures from the lowest jobs point, in February 2010, there has
been an increase of just 4.3 million. And the economy is still 4.5
million jobs short of where it was in 2007. For all of 2012, job
growth has averaged 146,000 per month, down from 153,000 in 2011.
The labor force participation rate for men is now the lowest on
record, going all the way back to 1948.
Since Obama took office, the
greatest government stimulus spending and monetary intervention in
world history has produced negative results. GDP growth slowed from
2.4% in 2010 to 2.0% in 2011, to l.6% in the first half of 2012. We
are going in the wrong direction. Obama's policies aren't working.
They have produced effects opposite from what he promised, and a
second term for him won't have a different outcome because his
methods are fundamentally wrong. And the Fed has announced unlimited
purchases of government debt ($40 billion per month in the mortgage
market) for as long as job growth remains weak. That, too, will be
repetition of a policy that has failed to produce economic growth and
reduce unemployment.
The decline in unemployment
in September to 7.8% from 8.1%, which broke the string of 43
consecutive months above 8%, is touted as evidence of success. But
despite the 0.3% decline in the unemployment rate, there was a loss
of 216,000 full time jobs. How can there be fewer full time
jobs when the unemployment rate has gone down? For one thing, many
people gave up looking for work and thus are no longer counted as
part of the work force. Second, the 114,000-job increase includes
individuals “working part time because their hours had been cut
back or because they were unable to find a full-time job,” explains
the Bureau of Labor Statistics report. The BLS report of 114,000
jobs gained includes those part-timers in the BLS U-3
classification. However, if you look at the BLS U-6
classification, which the BLS calls “Actual Unemployed,” it
includes “total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers,
plus total employed part time for economic reasons,” you see that
the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 14.7%. That's still
above the 14.2% rate when Obama became president.
The high unemployment and
loss of 216,000 higher-paying full-time jobs are major factors in
declining real income. Economist John Lott reports: “Mid-range
occupations accounted for 60% of jobs lost during the recession, but
low-wage occupations accounted for 58% of hiring during the
recovery.” As a result, says Peter Ferrara, writing in Forbes,
“Since President Obama entered office, annual median income has
declined by $4,019.... Moreover, the decline has been greater since
the recession supposedly ended in June, 2009, than it was during the
recession.” (Underlining added.)
