Not only did the September new jobs report come in more
than 50,000 short of expectations, the number crunchers
also revised August figures and lost another 16,000
paychecks. It is unusual for revisions to go negative in an
election year; generally, the numbers are recrunched into a
more appealing shape, under pressure to re-elect whichever
party is currently in office and in control of the
crunchers. But sometimes the statistics don't cooperate.
Sometimes it is the statisticians.
What's more, more than a third of the jobs created in
September were the sort for which the term "gainful
employment" hardly applies. They were jobs with the federal
and local governments, the sort of jobs that drain away
both capital and labor, rather than put it to productive
use.
If this were a "normal" recovery, points out The Liscio
Report, by way of Barron's, the nation would have 9.3
million more jobs. The new jobs would be providing new
income, which could be used for new purchases. Instead, the
economy bumbles along - with more and more people going
further and further underwater and counting on their houses
to bail them out.
In September, Barron's reports, "Even though the population
grew by 264,000, the labor force shrank by 221,000. Over
the past year, it has expanded less than half as rapidly as
has the population and a mere one-third of the rate it
enjoyed from 1990-2000."
Jobless recovery? Jobless it is. Recovery it ain't.
--- Daily Reckoning |
