Another Dubious Jobs
ReportBy
Paul Craig Roberts
According to the payroll
jobs report today (March 6) the economy
created 295,000 new jobs in February,
dropping the rate of unemployment to 5.5%.
However, the BLS also reported that the
labor force participation rate fell and the
number of people not in the labor force rose
by 354,000.
In other words, the
unemployment rate dropped because the labor
force shrunk.
If the economy was in
recovery, the labor force would be growing
and the labor force participation rate would
be rising.
The 295,000 claimed new
jobs are highly suspect. For example, the
report claims 32,000 new retail jobs, but
the Census Bureau reports that retail sales
declined in December and January. Why would
retailers experiencing declining sales hire
more employees?
Construction spending
declined 1.1% in January, but the payroll
jobs report says 29,000 construction jobs
were added in February.
Zero Hedge reports that
the decline in the oil price has resulted in
almost 40,000 laid off workers during
January and February, but the payroll jobs
report only finds 2,900 lost jobs in oil for
the two months.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-06/did-bls-once-again-forget-count-tens-thousands-energy-job-losses
There is no sign in the
payroll jobs report of the large lay-offs by
IBM and Hewlett Packard.
These and other
inconsistencies do not inspire confidence.
By ignoring the
inconsistencies the financial press does not
inspire confidence.
Let’s now look at where
the BLS says the payroll jobs are.
All of the goods producing
jobs are accounted for by the 29,000 claimed
construction jobs. The remaining 259,000 new
jobs–90%–of the total–are service sector
jobs. Three categories account for 70% of
these jobs. Wholesale and retail trade,
transportation and utilities account. for
62,000 of the jobs. Education and health
services account for 54,000 of which
ambulatory health care services accounts for
19,900. Leisure and hospitality account for
66,000 jobs of which waitresses and
bartenders account for 58,700 jobs.
These are the domestic
service jobs of a third world country.
John Williams (shadowstats.com)
reports: “As of February, the level of
full-time employment still was 1.0 million
shy of its pre-recession peak.”
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for
Economic Policy and associate editor of the
Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for
Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service,
and Creators Syndicate. He has had many
university appointments. His internet
columns have attracted a worldwide
following. Roberts' latest books are
The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and
Economic Dissolution of the West and
How America Was Lost.
