The White House must be telling itself there are still five months between now and Election Day, so the jobs picture could brighten. After all, we went through a similar mid-year slump in 2011 but came out fine.
But however you look at today's jobs report, it's a stunning reminder of how anemic the recovery has been -- and how perilously close the nation is to falling into another recession.
Not only has the unemployment rate risen for the first time in almost a year, to 8.2 percent, but, more ominously, May's payroll survey showed that employers created only 69,000 net new jobs. The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised its March and April reports downward. Only 96,000 new jobs have been created, on average, over the last three months.
Put this into perspective. Between December and February, the economy added an average of 252,000 jobs each month. To go from 252,000 to 96,000, on average, is a terrible slide. At least 125,000 jobs are needed a month merely to keep up with the growth in the working-age population available to work.
Face it: The jobs recovery has stalled.
What's going on? Part of the problem is the rest of the world. Europe is in the throes of a debt crisis and spiraling toward recession. China and India are slowing. Developing nations such as Brazil, dependent on exports to China, are feeling the effects and they're slowing as well. All this takes a toll on U.S. exports.
But a bigger part of the problem is right here in the United States, and it's clearly on the demand side of the equation. Big companies are still sitting on a huge pile of cash. They won't invest it in new jobs because American consumers aren't buying enough to justify the risk and expense of doing so.
Yet American consumers don't have the cash or the willingness to spend more. Not only are they worried about keeping their jobs, but their wages keep dropping. The median wage continues to slide, adjusted for inflation. Average hourly earnings in May were up 2 cents -- an increase of 1.7 percent from this time last year -- but that's less than the rate of inflation. And the value of their home -- their biggest asset by far -- is still declining. The average workweek slipped to 34.4 hours in May.
Corporate profits are healthy largely because companies have found ways to keep payrolls down -- substituting lower-paid contract workers, outsourcing abroad, using computers and new software applications. But that's exactly the problem. In paring their payrolls, they're paring their customers.
And we no longer have any means of making up for the shortfall in consumer demand. Federal stimulus spending is over. In fact, state and local governments continue to lay off large numbers. The government cut 13,000 jobs in May. Instead of a boost, government cuts have become a considerable drag on the rest of the economy.
Republicans will have a field day with today's jobs report, taking it as a sign that Obama's economic policies have failed and we need instead their brand of fiscal austerity combined with more tax cuts for the wealthy.
But that's precisely the reverse of what's needed.
ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock" and "The Work of Nations." His latest is an e-book, "Beyond Outrage." He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause.
Follow Robert Reich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RBReich
Matthew Dowd: Is Dismal Jobs Report the Signal Independents Are Seeking?
Dave Johnson: Jobs: It Is (Long Past) Time for Government to Act
the story: short good read: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/03/08/things-the-republican-congress-has-done-instead-of-creating-jobs/
In the fact that Obama has made his entire election strategy focused on blaming everything else but himself for the current economic slowdown, can only reignite those stereotypes. I mean the African American who takes no blame is such a cliche, that I really feel he will be known as the Great Blamer
out of Boehner and take the blame himself??? You are aware that in 2010
Boehner, on National TV told the WORLD that {Quote}: "Republicans will
do everything in our power to assure the Obama Administration[America]
FAILS" {end quote]???? In light of such a "treasonous" statement . . . . .
who would you suggest is to blame??? Republicans have blocked new
Jobs Bills [even their own], they have blocked, stalled, delayed and done
everything in their power [as promised in 2010] to keep the Country and
it's economy at a stand-still. Their hope is that people will forget this
National Speech and blame Obama so they can "get him out of the
"White Mans" White House!! Unfortunately, there are a lot of dumb one's
out there that will do just that.
balance of story: http://ndn.org/blog/2011/11/truth-about-job-creation-under-obama-and-bush
But that's precisely the reverse of what's needed"
----------------------------------------------------.
Oh how cute. What a way to end an otherwise good article. Why is that "precisely the reverse of what's needed"? A couple of reasons would have been good! I believe, as many other experts do, that austerity in government spending is "precisely what's needed". Government spending has gotten us in a hole that our great great grand children will be digging themselves out way into the future. We need better reasons than just grand declarations. We have Obama for that. Economists should deal with this more thoroughly.
http://wjmc.blogspot.com/2012/06/us-employment-to-population-ratio-marks.html
The US employment to population ratio appears to be improving, which is good news for workers.
Despite the economy, this is the greatest issue that we face as Americans; as consumers. I always hated that word. Consumers.
Yes the job creation numbers are not good the last three months, but we have STILL created over 1.6 million new jobs in the last six months (140,614,000 "employed" at the end of Nov 2011 to 142,287,000 "employed" at the end of May 2012) and over 2.3 million in the last year (139,808,000 "employed" at the end of May 2011 to 142,287,000 "employed" at the end of May 2012). Since Jan 1, 2010 we have gone from 137,968,000 "employed" to 142,287,000 "employed" today, an increase of 4,321,000 million. And that's 4.3 million NET jobs created (i.e. AFTER you subtract all the "government"/public sector jobs lost in that time)!
Most in Congress and Presidents (of both parties) are suckers to the Military-Industrial Complex. And we-people have just gone along! Till now, all of us have been able to "eat our cake and have it too". The American victims of these wars are our soldiers and their families; their grandchildÂren and yet-to-be-born Americans who have to foot-the-bÂÂill and not to menÂtion victims of parents who have PTSD, divorce, etc.
Everything the govt spends (4 trillion) on Medicaid, Medicare, Military, Agriculture, Transportation and highway construction is accompanied with waste, fraud and abuse.
In my city (upstate NY), worthy case is often made often on the air for "Fixing Crumbling Bridges." Who could be against it? Yet what ever construction money is available, the city spends it on constructiÂÂng round-abouÂÂts, upgrading traffic lights etc.
Its the same rationale: "If we don't use it we loose it."
At least you used the word "outsourcing", now if you would honestly discuss how "free trade" polices have done great damage to our economy, especially the middle class...