A bursting bubble blew U.S. jobs away
Floyd Norris International Herald Tribune
Saturday, October 16, 2004
iht.com
When the U.S. stock market bubble burst more than four years ago, it damaged more than the stock market. The enduring legacy was the elimination of millions of jobs in parts of the American economy that had been the strongest.
And those declines, many of which have continued even as the overall economy has recovered this year, have become an issue in the presidential campaign. Senator John Kerry blames the decline on President George W. Bush, and John Snow, the Treasury secretary, says the economy was in "sharp decline" when Bush was inaugurated.
The good news in the job numbers for the president is that 1.8 million jobs have been added since the employment picture hit bottom in August 2003. But that still leaves the economy with 821,000 fewer jobs than in January 2001. In the private sector, there are 1.6 million fewer jobs, a decline of 1.5 percent.
The recovery has been relatively weak in large part because many of the industries that benefited most from the bubble that created the boom economy of the late 1990s are still suffering.
The telecommunications service industry has lost 291,000 jobs, amounting to 22 percent of its work force when Bush took office. The category that includes Internet service providers and data processing has lost 112,000 jobs, also 22 percent. Publishing employment is down 131,000 jobs, or 13 percent.
Manufacturing employment has been in a long-term decline since 1979. By the time Bush took office, 2.4 million jobs had vanished over two decades. In the less than four years since, a further 2.7 million jobs have gone. Since that category hit bottom in January, only 70,000 jobs have been added.
Within manufacturing, the decline is most significant in computers and telecommunications, areas that boomed in the 1990s. More than one-third of the manufacturing jobs in communications and semiconductors are gone, as are more than a quarter of the computer manufacturing posts.
So where are the new jobs in this administration? Government employment is up, and so is health care. Real estate employment is up 8 percent. Over all, employment in private-sector service industries has grown, but by just 1.1 percent, the slowest rate in any post-World War II administration.
Since 1949, Democratic administrations have tended to see more private-sector jobs created than have Republican ones. The two worst-performing administrations from the time they took office through September of the next election year were those of George H.W. Bush, the current president's father, up 0.8 percent, and the second administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, up 1 percent. In each case, a close election led to Democrats' replacing Republicans in the White House.
When the U.S. stock market bubble burst more than four years ago, it damaged more than the stock market. The enduring legacy was the elimination of millions of jobs in parts of the American economy that had been the strongest.
And those declines, many of which have continued even as the overall economy has recovered this year, have become an issue in the presidential campaign. Senator John Kerry blames the decline on President George W. Bush, and John Snow, the Treasury secretary, says the economy was in "sharp decline" when Bush was inaugurated.
The good news in the job numbers for the president is that 1.8 million jobs have been added since the employment picture hit bottom in August 2003. But that still leaves the economy with 821,000 fewer jobs than in January 2001. In the private sector, there are 1.6 million fewer jobs, a decline of 1.5 percent.
The recovery has been relatively weak in large part because many of the industries that benefited most from the bubble that created the boom economy of the late 1990s are still suffering.
The telecommunications service industry has lost 291,000 jobs, amounting to 22 percent of its work force when Bush took office. The category that includes Internet service providers and data processing has lost 112,000 jobs, also 22 percent. Publishing employment is down 131,000 jobs, or 13 percent.
Manufacturing employment has been in a long-term decline since 1979. By the time Bush took office, 2.4 million jobs had vanished over two decades. In the less than four years since, a further 2.7 million jobs have gone. Since that category hit bottom in January, only 70,000 jobs have been added.
Within manufacturing, the decline is most significant in computers and telecommunications, areas that boomed in the 1990s. More than one-third of the manufacturing jobs in communications and semiconductors are gone, as are more than a quarter of the computer manufacturing posts.
So where are the new jobs in this administration? Government employment is up, and so is health care. Real estate employment is up 8 percent. Over all, employment in private-sector service industries has grown, but by just 1.1 percent, the slowest rate in any post-World War II administration.
Since 1949, Democratic administrations have tended to see more private-sector jobs created than have Republican ones. The two worst-performing administrations from the time they took office through September of the next election year were those of George H.W. Bush, the current president's father, up 0.8 percent, and the second administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, up 1 percent. In each case, a close election led to Democrats' replacing Republicans in the White House.
When the U.S. stock market bubble burst more than four years ago, it damaged more than the stock market. The enduring legacy was the elimination of millions of jobs in parts of the American economy that had been the strongest.
And those declines, many of which have continued even as the overall economy has recovered this year, have become an issue in the presidential campaign. Senator John Kerry blames the decline on President George W. Bush, and John Snow, the Treasury secretary, says the economy was in "sharp decline" when Bush was inaugurated.
The good news in the job numbers for the president is that 1.8 million jobs have been added since the employment picture hit bottom in August 2003. But that still leaves the economy with 821,000 fewer jobs than in January 2001. In the private sector, there are 1.6 million fewer jobs, a decline of 1.5 percent.
The recovery has been relatively weak in large part because many of the industries that benefited most from the bubble that created the boom economy of the late 1990s are still suffering.
The telecommunications service industry has lost 291,000 jobs, amounting to 22 percent of its work force when Bush took office. The category that includes Internet service providers and data processing has lost 112,000 jobs, also 22 percent. Publishing employment is down 131,000 jobs, or 13 percent.
Manufacturing employment has been in a long-term decline since 1979. By the time Bush took office, 2.4 million jobs had vanished over two decades. In the less than four years since, a further 2.7 million jobs have gone. Since that category hit bottom in January, only 70,000 jobs have been added.
Within manufacturing, the decline is most significant in computers and telecommunications, areas that boomed in the 1990s. More than one-third of the manufacturing jobs in communications and semiconductors are gone, as are more than a quarter of the computer manufacturing posts.
So where are the new jobs in this administration? Government employment is up, and so is health care. Real estate employment is up 8 percent. Over all, employment in private-sector service industries has grown, but by just 1.1 percent, the slowest rate in any post-World War II administration.
Since 1949, Democratic administrations have tended to see more private-sector jobs created than have Republican ones. The two worst-performing administrations from the time they took office through September of the next election year were those of George H.W. Bush, the current president's father, up 0.8 percent, and the second administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, up 1 percent. In each case, a close election led to Democrats' replacing Republicans in the White House. |
