It’s no wonder the President’s speech was missing some of the sparkle last night, he may have known that the jobs report, coming out today would dampen spirits. According to the Labor Department, the U.S. economy added just 96,000 jobs in August, and unemployment fell to 8.1%.
Well, it’s not ideal, but it’s going in the right direction, right? Wrong. The only reason unemployment dropped was because more eligible workers left the workforce. In fact, 368,000 left the workforce. And, a true economic recovery would require more robust growth. At this pace (on average adding 139,000 jobs per month), it would take another three or four years to get back to 5% unemployment.
According to CBS News, “the problem continues to be the tepid pace of economic growth (1.85 percent in the first half of the year and 1.7 percent in 2011), which has been too slow to prompt companies to hire. Economists say that the economy needs to grow by closer to 2.5 to 3 percent to put more people back to work.”
With just two jobs reports before the election, this has to cause concern within Obama’s ranks, since no president since the Great Depression has ever been re-elected with unemployment higher than 7.4%. Currently, the economy is on pace to continue with an 8% growth through the end of the year. Unfortunately, the Obama/Biden team have produced mixed results in Colorado as well.
Taking a closer look at which sectors are hiring, it must also be very disappointing that manufacturing employment has decreased by 15,000 in August, with a decline in employment in cars and car parts by 8,000, since Joe Biden and the rest of the Democratic Party has pointed to the manufacturing sectors as their focus, and in some ways, their achievement.
Perhaps you’ve heard Joe Biden’s line, “Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive”. General Motors may be alive, but it’s been on some pretty heavy life support, and is currently limping along.
Then, there is President Obama’s focus on college students. Currently, the unemployment rate for those aged 20-24 is 13.9%, more than 50% higher than the rest of the population. Remember, unemployment is those who are looking for jobs and cannot find one.
So, what achievements, exactly, are Obama and Biden running on again?
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