Hooverville
Job Market Update
-- Jayson
PoliPundit.com
The Labor Department just released its latest report on the nation’s job markets. As a preliminary matter, the following stats will help put them into perspective:
June 1997
10.4 = unemployment rate among blacks.
7.6 = unemployment among latinos.
5.0 = overall unemployment rate.
$424.03 = average weekly earnings by factory-line workers and non-managers in the services sectors.
Then there’s this:
June 2005
10.3 = unemployment rate among blacks.
5.8 = unemployment among latinos.
5.0 = overall unemployment rate.
$541.22 = average weekly earnings by factory-line workers and non-managers in the services sectors.
The U.S. economy created 146,000 W-2 jobs in June. This year’s net W-2 job gain now amounts to 1,088,000 – or just over 181,000 per month.
Payroll gains in June included new jobs in the following labor sectors and sub-sectors: Commercial banking, legal services, architecture and engineering, accounting and bookkeeping, computer systems, business management and managerial consulting, real estate, and health care services.
When non-payroll jobs are added to the mix (e.g., software consultants; contract salespersons; self-employment), the economy created 163,000 new positions last month, bringing this year’s total employment gain up to 1,482,000.
Back when President Bush first took office, average hourly earnings for production-line workers and non-supervisors in the services sectors were $14.27. As of last month, however, said earnings had grown to $16.06 per hour, thereby posting a total gain of 12.54 percent.
In January 2001, average weekly earnings for non-managers and production-line workers were $481.23. (See here, as revised - ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/news.release/History/empsit.03092001.news) As of last month, however, and as stated above, those wages had grown to $541.22, thereby posting a total gain of 12.46 percent.
Whereas total consumer inflation since the President first was sworn into office has risen just barely above 11 percent.
Uh, yeah, you read that correctly. Total wage growth for lower-tiered workers has outpaced total inflation since the Prez first took office. And that says nothing about the higher relative wage-growth rates for managerial-level workers. Nor does it factor in the explosive growth of homeowners’ equity over the past several years. Nor does it take into account higher rates of total *income* growth for all workers (e.g., wages *plus* cash bonuses, after-tax stock dividends, and the like).
Sequential gains in hourly wages for non-managers and factory workers have been posted in 47 of the 53 months which have elapsed since the President’s first inauguration.
{BTW: You too can look up all these stats regarding hourly earnings. Just click here - data.bls.gov Then click on “Total Private Average Hourly Earnings of Production Workers.” Then go to the bottom of the page and click on “Retrieve data."}
Lastly, the nation’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.0 percent in June. That’s less than half of France’s reported (10.1%) unemployment rate. And it’s nearly 60 percent lower than Germany’s reported unemployment rate (11.7%, as adjusted, following the re-classification of their social welfare rolls).
Note: Additional data also can be found here.
data.bls.gov
polipundit.com
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/news.release/History/empsit.070997.news
bls.gov
inflationdata.com
mabico.com
news.bbc.co.uk |
