Jobs data better but millions need work ... The headline numbers are simple. U.S. employers added 195,000 new jobs in June. The unemployment rate held steady at 7.6%. You can read the facts for yourself in this 38-page Bureau of Labor Statistics news release (PDF). Here are some highlights the news stories may overlook. 144.1 million Americans had some kind of job last month. 11.8 million Americans were unemployed. Of these, 4.3 million have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. An additional 8.2 million are working “part time for economic reasons.” These people want full-time jobs, but have had their hours cut back or can’t find full-time jobs. The number was up by 322,000 from a month before. Another 1.0 million “discouraged workers” are available to work but think no jobs are available for them. They don’t count as unemployed because they have stopped looking. The average workweek for all private non-farm employees was unchanged at 34.5 hours. Average hourly earnings rose slightly to $24.01. BLS revised the April and May reports upward, adding a net 70,000 jobs to the previously reported numbers. Job growth was strongest in the leisure, hospitality, business services and retailing. The overall impression was slightly encouraging, though job growth is still sluggish. Millions are still unemployed or underemployed. Last week the administration announced it is postponing the ObamaCare “employer mandate.” The stated reason is that employers can’t handle the record-keeping requirements. I think the real reason is different. The jobs data shows employers are reducing hours for low-wage workers. Chain stores and restaurants simply can’t afford to offer healthcare to all their employees. Under ObamaCare, it will be much cheaper to hire two 20-hour workers than one 40-hour worker. The Obama administration no doubt saw this happening. They think postponing the requirement for a year will help. I think they are wrong. Large employers are too far down the path. Having re-tooled for a mostly part-time workforce, they won’t go back. In other words, look for that “part-time for economic reasons” number to stay stubbornly high.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 23:25:54 +0000