Sunny Side Down
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Why 1.4 million new jobs haven't ended the jobless recovery.
By Daniel Gross
Posted Tuesday, June 29, 2004, at 1:26 PM PT
Since last fall, when the economy finally began adding payroll jobs consistently, the Bush administration has embraced the monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics release of the employment situation report as evidence that its economic policies are working. "Nationwide, the economy has posted steady job gains for each of the last nine months—creating more than 1.4 million new jobs since August," the White House crowed in early June, when news came that 248,000 payroll jobs were added in May. That figure, 1.4 million new jobs, has become the default answer given by administration officials when confronted with unpleasant economic questions.
To the mystification of the Bush administration and its allies, the American people aren't particularly grateful for this bounty of new employment opportunities. For example, a recent Washington Post/ABC poll showed that Americans disapproved, by a 53-46 margin, of President Bush's economic stewardship. Here's one possible explanation for the disconnect between the administration's cheery rhetoric and the population's gloomy disposition: The labor market is nowhere near its late-1990s heyday—and it may still be deteriorating.
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