For the fourth straight month there is a national job loss. That’s the bad news. Some say the good news is that we didn’t lose as many as expected. But, what truth is in the numbers?
Many Americans earned less in April, the government said on Friday, as the economy shed 20,000 jobs, the fourth consecutive month of decline. The drop in payrolls was less severe than expected, but businesses and employees continued to feel the effects of a widespread downturn.
Economists had been bracing for a decline of up to 85,000 jobs, in line with the rate of losses over the first three months of the year. Instead, service industries like restaurants and medical care recorded a surge of new hires, according to the Labor Department.
Are things turning around? Probably not. There may have been a decline in the loss rate, but it seems that those of us who are still employed are working less hours for less pay.
Americans also appear to be working fewer hours, and for less pay. The percentage of employees who involuntarily turned to part-time work rose to the highest level since 1995.
“Recessions in the job market don’t just hurt people who get laid off; they hurt incumbent workers by taking a big bite out of their hours and wages,” said Jared Bernstein of the Economics Policy Institute in Washington.
Among rank-and-file workers, who make up more than three-quarters of the work force, average weekly pay fell $3.55 to $602.56, when adjusted for inflation. This figure has been generally falling since the end of 2006, when it peaked at $610.50.
Having a job and not being in that 5% unemployed, a decimal drop from last months 5.1%, has some merits. But, the reality is that we as Americans are working more for less and that the rate of pay is not keeping up with the cost of living. To say that more people are working part time jobs, taking them out of the unemployment line, is of little satisfaction if they are still backing up as far as the amount of take home pay goes.
Of course, it is nice to hear that the unemployment lines are shortening, but if a person has been laid off from a job that could barely sustain his family and has taken a job at McDonald’s or Burger King there is little solace… except for the reported numbers.
The point is that when a person loses his job and then takes on two part time jobs that won’t meet the necessities, there is little indication that we have turned the curve. Instead, it seems to indicate to me that it is more evidence that we have exported many of our higher paying jobs and have settled into the McDonald’s burger flipping to feed the family.
