Unemployment Numbers Won’t Help In 2020
by James Moore
Not Done Yet
The 2018 Midterms are over. Thank God! Take a deep breath because the race for the White House starts right about now. For Trump, this could spell trouble. For the first time in a long while the unemployment numbers were not a factor in the 2018 Midterms and may not be a factor in the 2020 national election.
Unemployment Lie
The current unemployment numbers as released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a low 3.7 percent unemployment rate. Trump has used this low rate to blow his own horn. He also claims he has turned the economy around. It’s a lie. Keep in mind, the jobless rate has fallen at a consistent clip since January of 2010. Trump knows he inherited an economic turnaround of sorts, but it has always been a modest one at best. The fact is, full-time jobs just are not what they use to be. Depending on the definition one uses, there is a serious under-employment problem plaguing the nation.
Under-Employed vs. Unemployed
There was a time when low unemployment meant most of the working class were working at jobs that paid a livable wage. Today, many of the new jobs created are nothing more than low paying service jobs that need few skills. American wages still lag where they were before the crash of 2008. Complicate that with the increase cost of health care, the out sourcing of labor overseas, large tax cuts for the 1% without any expectation of them creating real jobs, and the result is millions of Americans do not earn enough money to live on. More workers today are forced to work a second and even a third job, just to pay their bills. The result is that Americans are working more, have less money to spend, and no time to enjoy what they do make.
Real Numbers 45 Doesn’t Want Us to Know
In 2012, unemployment was at 8.1 percent. However, when people who were working multiple jobs or who had stopped looking all together were factored in, the under-employment rate rose to 14.7%. * Last year, that rate was down to 12.5% even though unemployment was down to around 4%. ** In 2012, the total number of under-employed Americans was 23.1 million and as recently as 2016, the Chicago Tribune reported nearly half of U.S. workers considered themselves under-employed.
A Third of College Graduates Are Under-Employed
While half of the nation being under employed may seem a bit high, the New York Federal Reserve Bank put under employment for all college graduated American between the ages of 22 and 65 at 33 percent. That figure jumps to 44% for college grads between the ages of 22 and 27 as recently as October of this year.
The Military Industrial Complex
The truth is, most of the jobs he is creating are in the military industry. Why? I believe, it is because he wants to create a situation that allows him to go to war; so that our next election will be a referendum for him as a war-time president and against all those unpatriotic Democrats. After all, his wall won’t be built, racism will not be stamped, or in his case stomped, out, and the economy will be lack luster. Low unemployment numbers will not satisfy voters when their full-time jobs are not enough to pay the bills in 2020.
Education Deserves Blame Too
As a retired teacher, I can tell you our public schools have played a huge role in adding to our under-employment problems. Despite low unemployment numbers, millions of trades jobs sit unfilled. Schools have sold college as the only answer to a successful life. This brainwashing of our kids has led to serious problems. Let me repeat, college is not the only or best road to a successful work life. It is all lies. There are many fine trade jobs that our citizens could be trained for. It’s time we admit that college is not the end-all for every American.
