Harry Reid could use the morning dew as an excuse to bash Republicans.
On Thursday he put out a press release crowing about the number of jobs created in June — 223,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent.
“The country has experienced 64 consecutive months of private sector job growth. Though more needs to be done, there’s no doubt we’ve made progress. Senate Democrats want to build on that progress,” some staffer wrote before turning to the real topic at hand. “Republicans, who have now controlled Congress for six months, have other priorities.”
He then bashed Republicans for not reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank and claimed they may let the Highway Trust Fund expire.
“Americans deserve more from the GOP Congress than crisis, inaction and economic insecurity. Republicans have consistently shown that they are not interested in finding long-term solutions to critical problems,” Reid reportedly wailed.
Not so fast, Harry.
Yes, the BLS did report 223,000 jobs were created in June, but if Democrats can take credit for that, perhaps they also take blame for the fact the civilian labor force declined by 432,000 in June. Additionally, the April and May job growth estimates were revised down by 60,000 jobs. So what’s the likelihood of that 223,000 jobs holding up next month?
As for those 64 months of job growth, an Investor’s Business Daily editorial notes that during Obama’s presidency, the population grew by nearly 16 million, but the labor force grew by less than 3 million. “For every three Americans added to the working age population (16 and over), only around one new job has been created under Obama,” the editorialists note.
Construction worker in June. (Reuters photo)
4TH ST8 
So how much do these new jobs pay and how many hours? $10/hour and 30-hours a week? HB1 Visa’d folks from Mexico, Philippines, Pakistan/India or elsewhere to take over native American technical jobs (higher pay) for less money? And how much do the departing jobs pay? 40+ hours, full-time, salaried? I think today, there is a need for a better barometer of measuring jobs and their contribution (or not) to the economy….. sheer numbers tell us nothing – especially since they are not U6 numbers. Whatever the worker cannot earn working, the worker often receives from the taxpayer in various subsidies. You do excellent work, Thomas. I love reading your blogs. May you and yours have a safe and happy Independence Day celebration. Mo Karas From: 4TH ST8 To: mmkaras@yahoo.com Sent: Friday, July 3, 2015 9:57 AM Subject: [New post] Harry uses jobs numbers as excuse to bash GOP, as per usual #yiv7375657225 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv7375657225 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv7375657225 a.yiv7375657225primaryactionlink:link, #yiv7375657225 a.yiv7375657225primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv7375657225 a.yiv7375657225primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv7375657225 a.yiv7375657225primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv7375657225 WordPress.com | Thomas Mitchell posted: “Harry Reid could use the morning dew as an excuse to bash Republicans.On Thursday he put out a press release crowing about the number of jobs created in June — 223,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 ” | |
It’s been 6 months with a Republican Congress. What have they done for us so far?
Not much. Perhaps less harm than a Republican Nevada Legislature.
1 year 10 months ago I replaced the Job I had at Kodak with the one I have now.
My performance numbers proved out and last month they awarded me a 2,5% merit increase in pay.
Yesterday, I received the downsize package from the new employer (I will not identify as I want to collect the sep money)
A main reason for the downsize is continuing pressure on “brick and mortar” retailers which is not expected to let up any time soon. One customer, GAP, recently closed 175 stores with more to be closed in the near future. Retailers are not buying new equipment and many have dropped contracts for service on their existing equipment. (Target, Toys R US, Vons to name just a few) This, coupled with my efforts to fix everything I found wrong, made the call rate in the Las Vegas and surrounding areas plummet.
Accountants know numbers and there simply is not enough work in this market…nor is there enough work for the Phoenix employees. Traveling people and performing PM’s doesn’t cut it for the accountants…both of those things cost money. Installs, service contracts and service calls create revenue.
Overall the company downsized all across the country by 7 people…but this is also only temporary as one retailer did buy a bunch of equipment but once that project is done they can expect even more downsizing. There is nothing else on the horizon.
In my case the financial situation is strong with Mom’s estate now closed and the assets dispersed. I have enough to last for 5 years and, since it is inheritance money, it does not count as income, is not taxable and means ACA insurance will likely be fully subsidized if not (indeed) referred to Medicaid. (Even if ACA was not law, we would have to have coverage as my wife needs certain medical services, otherwise we could qualify for an “unaffordability exemption”)
In my case things are OK but this does show what is happening out in the economy…skilled labor is hanging on by a thread even as it is in demand.
This time I can be very selective in what employ I accept….at least for the first year…after that I plan on being much less picky.
Meanwhile I still need to invest some of this cost basis money and I am in a strange situation of saying;
“I’ve been downsized, I need to see an accountant!”
Downsized. What a sickening feeling of helplessness and powerlessness.
More jobs but wages stagnant, says WSJ.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/jobs-report-u-s-payrolls-climb-by-223-000-1435840430
“helplessness and powerlessness”
Yes, but in my case a took great pleasure in telling them i have the 5 year cushion to fall back on.
The audible intakes of breath on the other end of the phone were pleasing to hear.
After the first phone call with the manager and the HR rep telling me about the DSP, the manager called me to try and offer me work with the company as a subcontractor…I told him to get me the paperwork so I could look it over. He seemed nonplussed by my response but ensured me he would send it by email. (He does have a month do do so on the company email.)
What bothered me about that offer is I know these separation agreements have clauses in them. (I read my Kodak one word for word, this one is little different)
One clause is you lose all the separation money if you take even one tiny little bit of work with the company…so if I had said yes and taken even one job after the work through date, they could cut off all the money they are offering…shady, to say the least.
At this point, if he sends the paperwork then he was being up front about it, if he doesn’t send any paperwork then they were trying to trap me.
My feelings about this company are they were trying to trap me. It has a very poor ethical history as far as I am concerned. (one example are those PM’s ;preventive maintenance; they sell in every service contract but they fail to provide unless the customer calls them out on it. Vons was good for that, they tracked the PM’s but even they had stores that never saw a visit in at least the last 4 years) Very shady company.
Makes no difference who you vote for, government ALWAYS gets in and 95% of the time it’s useless!
Sad news, Steve. Best wishes for the future.
Not sad, Rincon. It was only a matter of time with me. I was pretty unhappy with the company. This way they pay me to leave.
Note I have the needed liquidity to maintain my current lifestyle for 5 years. I will have employment well before that runs out.
Thanks ZerøCare! Way to bring in those part time jobs! And of course, Greid is going to bash Repubs with phone numbers and lies. Can’t teach a decrepit, old dog new tricks (or new lies, either!)
From those Bolsheviks at ADP:
” As the implementation of the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) approached, some industry observers predicted that employers would move many employees working 30 to 34 hours per week into higher or lower hourly categories to manage health care benefits costs. However, a new study from the ADP Research Institute® indicates little to no change in the number of workers within each of three hourly ranges studied since implementation of ACA provisions began.
“The study, The Affordable Care Act and Economics of the Part-Time Workforce: Measuring the Impact of the Affordable Care Act, suggests that the actual impact of the ACA on employment policy appears to be negligible. … The research indicates that the lack of ACA impact on part-time employment was also consistent within individual industries. Within each examined industry, the number of employees working between 30 and 34 hours remained steady, ranging between 2 and 4 percent depending on the industry. Overall part-time employment experienced similar stability.”
http://tinyurl.com/p4gt3aa
Oh, yes – and this:
“One very underappreciated aspect of the A.C.A. is that it removed the link between employment and insurance, allowing people to change or leave jobs and still maintain insurance for themselves and their families. The number of people involuntarily working part-time is down by almost 16 percent over the last two years, but the number choosing to work part-time is up by almost 6 percent. Young parents account for the bulk of the growth in voluntary part-time employment. The A.C.A. has given millions of young parents the option to spend more time with their children without having to worry about losing insurance.”
http://tinyurl.com/pnxqdxa
I don’t know what’s worse. Whether petey thinks we’ll believe this bilge, or just possibly he believes it, himself!