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Today the Labor Department released the results of its survey of the employment situation in the United States. The “official” unemployment rate (their words) is now 8.1%. If you earned $10 last month, you’re counted as employed. Their “official” rate is the rate you see reported in the newspapers and on TV. In one sense, it’s the rosy statistic that has been used for decades. However, if you wanted to get a better feel for the true misery rate of America, you’d have to look at the underemployed as well as the folks who said they just didn’t bother to look for work anymore. The reference link below will show you better measures. The official rate, that 8.1% number, is called U-3. Take a look at a second statistic called U-6. That measure of misery says the unemployment rate is 14.8%. That measure is also worthy of mention in the media. It tells us that one person in seven can’t find a full-time job. For years, my rule of thumb is to double the official rate of employment to get a sense of how many people are doing poorly in the U.S. To get the exact number for U-6, you’ll invariably have to visit the website of the Dept. of Labor. They don’t even have a name for it except “U-6.” Let’s just call it the “Comprehensive Misemployment Rate.” Just remember the next time you hear the “official” rate that it is just not the whole miserable story.
Here’s yet a third way to see what the average working person is up against. The U.S. has an increasing population. In 8 years the population went from about 281 Million to 306 Million. So just to stay even in jobs for Americans, new jobs have to be created at the same rate. In the last 8 years, Americans have been falling behind. Here’s the slow decline for working men and women:
When was the last time you heard that phrase “full employment?” It’s a by-gone concept. In the 1970’s, the Congress defined “Full Employment” to be reached when the “official” unemployment rate is “only” 4%. That definition puts a seal of approval on a lot of misery for Americans. Remember, when you have 4% “official” unemployment, the “Comprehensive Misemployment Rate” U-6 is around 8%. Let’s have a wild and crazy dream. Let’s shoot for a full employment rate of about 105%. That would be a good indicator that jobs are going begging due to a booming economy in America.
Click here to contact your representatives in Washington, D.C.: – Byron
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Archive for the ‘Jobs’ Category
Job Picture: Worse Than They Say
Friday, March 6th, 2009Job Creation Magic
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
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The government class doesn’t grasp the reality of the typical, middle-class American. President-Elect Barack Obama states that his goal is to create 2.5 million jobs. With 10 million men and women in the official unemployment line, and millions more underemployed, a couple of million new jobs doesn’t cut it. If this is the serious economic crisis that the government class, the economists, and commentators accept almost unanimously, why should one adopt a goal that at best leaves us in a crisis? So let’s shoot for getting 10 million American men and women back to work. Here’s how.
First, the federal government has an obligation to remove the illegal immigrants from this country. There are at least 10 to 12 million illegals here. Let’s take a guess that at least 5 million have jobs that could ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) removed a record 349,000 illegal immigrants in 2008, a 21 percent increase over last year and a 77 percent jump since 2005 according to the San Jose Mercury News. That is an improvement. It sounds good. However, the influx of illegals is about 1,000 per day. So ICE is barely keeping even. There still remain over 10 million aliens who are subject to deportation.
Second, if you add in the LEGAL immigrants, there are over 38 million foreign-born people in the U.S. today. The rate of influx has been, and remains, a shock to the American system. There is an alphabet soup of Third, how many jobs have been directly and legally outsourced to foreign countries? Think of the call centers in India as just one example. One commentator put it this way, “If the data can travel down the internet, the job can be done just about anywhere in the world.” These are not manufacturing jobs. The global companies simply want to make an extra buck. All these jobs can be returned to the United States of America. The jobs belong to American men and women who deserve them. Fourth, the U.S. has an enormous foreign trade deficit. It alone could bankrupt this country. The response of the Congress is simply to ignore the problem. To stop the hemorrhaging, the U.S. should and can take action. Let’s start with a 10% tariff on all imported goods and services and raise it until the U.S. at least has an even balance of trade. I can hear your objection that the the U.S. must respect the World Trade Organization rules which prohibit that. That’s not true. The WTO treaty says that no country should single out particular industries. As long as the tariff is applied to everything, each country is entitled to apply import taxes. Until Americans take this most basic step, we’ll continue to become weaker and weaker. Let’s call it a serious matter of national security.
Living in the U.S., do you ever feel that you’re in an asylum that’s being run by the inmates? Remember the oft-quoted definition of insanity?
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