Don’t believe the hype, it’s a sequel. The monthly jobs report came out yesterday and MSM pundits are trumpeting Biden’s ‘achievement.’ Just the facts, ma’am.
The ‘good.’ The Labor Department on Friday reported that the economy added a seasonally adjusted 528,000 jobs in July from a month earlier—far more than the 258,000 that economists expected to see. With that the employment losses brought on by Covid-19 crisis have finally been erased: There were 32,000 more jobs in July than there were in February 2020. Similarly, the unemployment rate slipped to 3.5% from 3.6%, bringing it back to the multidecade low it logged just before the pandemic.
The bad. The pandemic is a continuing problem for the job market. The employment report showed that there were 656,000 more people out sick last month than in July 2019, while a separate survey from the Census Bureau shows that a large number of people weren’t working because they were worried about catching or spreading Covid. For many families, child-care issues remain unresolved.
Another reason more people might not be working is that, despite the pressing demand for workers across the country, their old job hasn’t come back.
The ugly. The labor-force participation rate—or the share of adults working or seeking a job—ticked down to 62.1% in July from 62.2% a month earlier. The number of people employed as a share of the working-age population came to 60% last month; if it rose back to February 2020’s 61.2%, there would be millions more people working. While the economy has recovered all the jobs it lost since February 2020, there are still 623,000 fewer people in the workforce.
At the end of the day, you’ll be fed hype from MSM about Biden’s ‘achievements’ in ‘creating jobs.’ It’s hype…the dude can barely read his notes; he’s just along for the ride.