The September Jobs Report was released this morning. While it was a good report, it was certainly not a great report.
The rate of unemployment dropped to 7.8 percent, the lowest during the Obama Administration, but only 114 thousand jobs were created. The level of both unemployed and under-employed remains at 14.7 percent, which is a huge waste of human capital.
But, there are some interesting internal dynamics. Take a look at the blue line, which is overall job growth. It has been rising since 2010. Now, take a look at the gold line, which is job growth in the private sector. It has been rising even faster. Lastly, take a look at the red line, which is job growth in the government sector. It is retarding the growth rate for overall employment.
Certainly, I'm not arguing that government needs to add jobs, especially if we have to borrow money from the Chinese to pay their salaries. Still, it is sad we cannot afford another WPA-style program to take advantage of that huge wasted resource of people.
The rate of unemployment dropped to 7.8 percent, the lowest during the Obama Administration, but only 114 thousand jobs were created. The level of both unemployed and under-employed remains at 14.7 percent, which is a huge waste of human capital.
But, there are some interesting internal dynamics. Take a look at the blue line, which is overall job growth. It has been rising since 2010. Now, take a look at the gold line, which is job growth in the private sector. It has been rising even faster. Lastly, take a look at the red line, which is job growth in the government sector. It is retarding the growth rate for overall employment.
Certainly, I'm not arguing that government needs to add jobs, especially if we have to borrow money from the Chinese to pay their salaries. Still, it is sad we cannot afford another WPA-style program to take advantage of that huge wasted resource of people.
An amusing side-note that should not be surprising during fierce partisan campaigning is the widespread suspicion that "the books are cooked." Somehow, it is hard for me to believe that some tenured bureaucrat tucked away with both ridiculous job benefits and job security would risk going to jail by fabricating data to help his political bosses. Besides, the final numbers are determined in two different ways (the household survey and the establishment survey) by two different groups of people. How can you get so many people to keep their mouth shut about such a conspiracy? And, frankly, the Jobs Report was not that good anyway!
