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Mort Zuckerman drills into the jobs report.
In recent months, Americans have heard reports out of Washington and in the media that the economy is looking up—that recovery from the Great Recession is gathering steam. If only it were true. The longest and worst recession since the end of World War II has been marked by the weakest recovery from any U.S. recession in that same period.
The jobless nature of the recovery is particularly unsettling. In June, the government’s Household Survey reported that since the start of the year, the number of people with jobs increased by 753,000—but there are jobs and then there are “jobs.” No fewer than 557,000 of these positions were only part-time. The survey also reported that in June full-time jobs declined by 240,000, while part-time jobs soared by 360,000 and have now reached an all-time high of 28,059,000—three million more part-time positions than when the recession began at the end of 2007.
That’s just for starters. The survey includes part-time workers who want full-time work but can’t get it, as well as those who want to work but have stopped looking. That puts the real unemployment rate for June at 14.3%, up from 13.8% in May.
The 7.6% unemployment figure so common in headlines these days is utterly misleading. An estimated 22 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed; they are virtually invisible and mostly excluded from unemployment calculations that garner headlines. …
More detail on the job disaster from Peter Ferrara at Forbes.
You would not have gotten the real story about the June unemployment report on the front page of any newspaper. If you can find a reporter who can think for himself or herself, he or she is a treasure who should be promoted to run the entire paper.
But since you are already here, the real story is available if you read on. There were no net full time jobs created last month. The number of full time jobs actually declined by at least 162,000 on net last month.
All of the net new jobs created last month were part time jobs. The Labor Department reported, “The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons…increased by 322,000 to 8.2 million in June. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.” (emphasis added).
That is why the Labor Department also reported that the U-6 unemployment rate, which includes these involuntary part-time workers, soared from 13.8% in May to 14.3% in June. That soaring unemployment suggests not recovery but renewed recession.
These part-time jobs replacing full time jobs helps to explain why middle class incomes have continued to decline throughout Obama’s Presidency. The middle class has lost the equivalent of one month’s income a year under President Obama, and with these employment trends, those declining living standards will continue.
Moreover, even counting this explosion of part-time jobs, Obama’s supposed recovery is sorely lagging. As we pointed out last week, in the 11 previous recessions since the Great Depression, the economy gained back all of the jobs lost during the recession in an average of 25 months from when the recession started. But today, we are 67 months after the recession started, and 49 months after it officially ended, and under what passes for economic policy under the smartest President ever, we still have not gained back all of the jobs lost during the recession. And, again, that is counting the explosion of part time jobs replacing full time jobs.
President Obama told us in his State of the Union Address this year, “A growing economy that creates good, middle class jobs – this must be the North Star that guides our efforts.” But, once again, the President’s words have not matched his deeds. …
Washington Free Beacon explains why the train wreck in QuebecProvince improves the arguments for the XL Pipeline.
The deadly explosion of a Canadian freight train could boost the case for the U.S. government’s approval of a controversial oil pipeline, which supporters say would reduce the risk of similar disasters in the future.
The disaster’s death toll is up to 13, and an additional 40 are missing since the train, which was carrying 72 tanker cars of crude oil, derailed and subsequently exploded in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, on Saturday.
Proponents of the Keystone XL Pipeline have noted that a rejection of the project by the Obama administration would likely mean additional crude oil transported by rail, and hence a heightened risk of future accidents.
“The train disaster in Quebec is a tragic example of how some means of transportation are more dangerous than others,” James Taylor, senior fellow for environmental policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said in an email.
The administration has repeatedly delayed its decision to approve or reject the pipeline. President Barack Obama recently said he would not approve the project unless it was determined to be carbon neutral, suggesting to some that he planned to reject it.
Proponents of the project say that outcome would make oil transportation more risky. …
Walter Russell Mead with more on the subject.
Tragedy struck in the idyllic town of Lac Megantic, Quebec this weekend. A 73-car oil-laden train derailed and exploded early Saturday. Five people died, and the crash site is still too hot—more than 50 hours later—to look for 40 missing people.
The implications of the accident extend much further than the small border town: crashes like this are why greens should be supporting the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
Canada has a lot of oil. Much of that is trapped in Alberta’s oil sands, and it is of a particularly heavy and dirty-burning variety. But Canada does not have a lot of oil infrastructure. It lacks the pipelines and the refineries needed to take advantage of its bounty.
The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would solve this problem by bringing Canadian oil down to American refineries along the GulfCoast.
John Hinderaker hopes the Chinese government will not be as climate ignorant as ours is.
China is now the world’s number one emitter of carbon dioxide, so other countries are trying to browbeat it to fall into line with the CAGW (catastrophic anthropogenic global warming) theory. So the the ChineseAcademy of Sciences is taking up the global warming debate, which is more than you can say for similar professional organizations in the U.S. and Europe. The Science and Environmental Policy Project reports on what is going on in China; we can only hope that China will not choose to cripple its economy for the sake of purported climate benefits. SEPP proposes a list of questions that should be posed to those who want to put China in the alarmist camp:
“As mentioned earlier, the ChineseAcademy of Sciences is planning a September symposium in Beijing to rally the pro-IPCC arguments and try to convince their government that humans make an important contribution to global warming. In anticipation of this symposium, one would like to ask the organizers the following kinds of questions:
1. Can you explain why there has been no significant warming observed in the last 15 years — in spite of a rapid increase in the atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide?
2. Can one explain why the tropical atmosphere has shown no warming between 1979 and 2000 (ignoring the 1-yr long temperature spike of 1998, caused by a Super-El-Nino), and then again between 2002 and 2012-while models predict that the atmosphere should warm faster than the surface?
3. Can one explain why the Antarctic has been cooling, with Antarctic sea ice growing steadily–while models predict a global warming with most of the effects at high latitudes? …”
Since she has experience with bloated bureaucracies, Janet Napolitano will head the UC system. Richard Vedder has the story.
… UC’s annual spending exceeds that of most state governments, amounting to roughly $100,000 for each of its students. Much of this is unrelated to instructional function. The university’s bureaucracy is famously monumental, centralized and costly: Aside from a full cohort of administrators and support staff at each of the 10 campuses, the central office in Oakland employs more than 2,000 workers, a staggering number (2,358 full-time employees, according to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System). There are 10 “divisions” in the Office of the President, for example. Its “external relations” division lists more than 55 managerial-type employees on organizational charts, and that number doesn’t include support personnel. …
Andrew Malcolm with late night humor.
Conan: Elliot Spitzer, caught frequenting prostitutes a few years ago, is running for office again in New York. His campaign slogan- “Spitzer: Creating Jobs by the Hour.”
Conan: A new study finds drinking just three pints of beer a week permanently dulls the brain. So now you know: Never stop at just three.
Conan: A new report finds Mexico has replaced the U.S. as the world’s fattest nation. In fact, now Mexicans are trying to cross the border just to ask, “Are you going to finish that?”
Leno: Bad news for the ‘Lone Ranger.’ The movie could lose $150 million. In fact, it’s so bad that Tonto quit acting and has gone back to working at the casino.
Leno: Big turmoil in Egypt. The military took over. President Morsi is under house arrest and being forced to watch ‘The Lone Ranger.’ …