Recession chugs on, except in government

Recession chugs on, except in government

Originally Posted At The Washington Examiner
February 8, 2010

White House apologists were quick to point to the unemployment rate decline from 10 percent to 9.7 percent as evidence that the recovery is gathering momentum and that President Obama's policies -- especially his $787 billion economic stimulus bill Congress approved last February -- are "working." But the back story behind the figures provides cold comfort.

First, the drop to 9.7 percent unemployment does not reflect the creation of new jobs that normally accompanies an economic recovery. The number of new jobs is actually declining. Total nonfarm payroll employment, for example, dipped by an additional 20,000 positions after a December decline of 150,000 positions. The unemployment rate the day Obama took office last year stood at 7.6 percent and 134.6 million people had jobs. When he signed the economic stimulus, Obama promised the bill would bolster the economy sufficiently to keep unemployment below 8.0 percent. But the unemployment rate has exceeded 8.0 percent since last fall, and total employment stands at only 129.5 million. The stimulus has been a bust.

Second, anybody who thinks the job situation is going to improve dramatically in coming months is not paying attention to what's going on behind the unemployment rate.The Hudson Institute's Diana Furchtgott-Roth notes that “This is a better employment report than last month’s report, yet the economy is still not creating jobs. The percent of the unemployed who are out of work for 27 weeks or more exceeded 41%, an all-time high. This is unacceptable and shows that Congress and the President need to focus on job creation, rather than on expanding government, because the tax increases and borrowing used to expand government reduce overall job creation and create uncertainty." Furchtgott-Roth further notes that "the labor force participation rate is the lowest since mid-1985." This means that fewer Americans are in the labor force.

Third, among the few sectors of the economy showing net employment growth over the past year is the federal government. The federal civil service is rapidly expanding as Obama increases the size of government, with 33,000 new positions being added in January alone. Only 9,000 of those new slots were for temporary census jobs. In other words, what we are seeing is good times for the public sector and the growing prospect of a continuing and perhaps even deepening recession for everybody else.

Action Center

	What's New? Get the latest happenings
	Mad Enough? Join the Fight
	Stop the Raid! Sign the Petition
	No Health Rationing! Sign the Petition
	No More Bailouts! Sign the Petition
	Seniors Sound Off Submit your Blog Posts
	Please Support SSI With Your Online Donation

Recent News

Democrats Wave Social Security Bloody Shirt

September 2, 2010

Source: The Washington Post

FactCheck.org says White House and Democrats are distorting Social Security issue: "The president claims Republican leaders are as eager to 'privatize' Social Security as they are to repeal his health care law. That's not true."
Read Full Story

Smackdown of Obama by Supreme Court may be inevitable

August 22, 2010

Source: Examiner.com

According to sources who watch the inner workings of the federal government, a smackdown of Barack Obama by the U.S. Supreme Court may be inevitable.
Read Full Story

Social Security Cuts Weighed by Panel

August 20, 2010

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Many Washington insiders predict that any 2011 debate on Social Security will focus on the issues of benefit cuts and tax increases. In addition to raising the retirement age, which is now set to reach age 67 in 2027, specific cuts under consideration include lowering benefits and trimming annual cost-of-living increases.
Read Full Story

How to escape 'cyber past'

August 18, 2010

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

The private lives of young people are now so well documented on the internet that many will have to change their names on reaching adulthood, Google’s CEO has claimed.
Read Full Story

Obama’s (Latest) Social Security Whopper

August 16, 2010

Source: FactCheck.org

President Obama claimed that Republican leaders are pushing to make "privatizing Social Security a key part of their legislative agenda" should they regain control of the House and Senate. He said this is "right up there on their to-do list with repealing" parts of the new health care law. FactCheck.org finds the president’s claim to be mostly false.
Read Full Story

Threat to Boomers' Retirement

August 16, 2010

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Older workers, who typically fared better than their younger counterparts in recessions, have been hit just as hard by layoffs this time around. As a result, the fraction of people 65 or older who are working has leveled off after a long period of growth. As of July, it stood at 15.9%, down from 16.3% in mid-2008.
Read Full Story

Read All Recent News

Please Sign up for 'Recent News' Updates