A Hard Look at Private Sector Jobs

BusinessWeek’s economist, Michael Mandel, continues with his discussion of private sector job growth for the last ten years. The bad news? A month or so ago it was trending towards zero. Today it managed to get there.

That’s right, for the past ten years we have lost more jobs in the private sector than were created. Here’s the graph:

Mandel also takes this a step further and compares job growth from recession trough to recession trough. This to quiet critics that contended he was comparing boom to bust years. Here’s that graph:

I suspect that there will be some objections raised to this as well. The reality is that there is no perfect measure but, however imperfect, Mandel’s graphs paint a picture of an economy in long-term decline. Smoke and mirrors only work so long and sooner or later you have to create private sector jobs or an economy will collapse. Right now, I’d say that smoke and mirrors are still the preferred tactic.

Comments

[Donald Ingram:]

Meanwhile those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits continue to drop off the back of the truck. California had 150,000 do just that as of September 1, while legislators debate a bill proposing to extend benefits once again. If passed unemployment benefits go to 92 weeks! It is estimated that as of the end of September 500,000 will have exhausted their benefits, this total goes to 1.5 million by the end of the year. You get the feeling that there is another elephant in the room? Getting crowded!

Sep 05 09:56 AM

[Tom E.:]

Free trade without the creation of new industries will hollow out developed countries. Some type of job stickiness needs to be put in place until the new industries are apparent.

Sep 05 10:14 AM

[Bjarne Jensen:]

If the number of people laid off went down a little but the unemployment rate went up a lot, can I conclude that "hiring" fell off a cliff?

Sep 05 10:56 AM

[PainfullyAware:]

2010 is going to get a bit "Wild".

I see no action by our "Leaders" that represent a "Reduction Of Burden" on the citizens. All efforts seem to be aimed at "Subjugation and Theft" through "Governmental Increase" and "Creative Revenue Generation".

The Homeless And Hungry Do Not Make Compliant Citizens.

When "Riots" begin and 3rd infantry and 3rd armor respond => "Emergency" will have arrived. The Transformation Of America To That Of 1940s Germany Will Be Called For By "The Powers That Be". If you do not believe that this is "Possible Nor Probable" then I guess you will be surprised because the legislation and executive orders are already in place.

"Pandemic" is another option for trigger of "Emergency" (although the Swine Flu most likely will be either propaganda or not the real cause)

Massachusetts may be a precursor of things to come:

Swine Flu Witch Hunt? (Crazy Stuff That Movies Are Made Of; This Is Not The Movies)
www.wnd.com/index.php?...

Sounds like Massachusetts is getting ready for the government to “Let Out One Of The Bio Weapons” rather than a flu that is currently estimated to be only 3 times as deadly as the normal flu.


The Future Is Not Set => The Path Can Be Altered And Is Ever Changing. Recognition Of Danger Is The First Step To Changing Course.

All Information Is Suspect; Think For Yourself And Be Skeptical. Do Not Be Easily Led.

Sep 05 06:02 PM

[hopslover:]

Short and to the point, when the government's #s get too bleak, they'll just find another way to statistically compute them so they can be lower. Small businesses are getting locked out, beaten into submission, and then kicked when they're already down. Good luck to all

Sep 05 08:52 PM

[punk_ash:]

The root causes of all problems are 2: Health care costs and real estate taxes. The health care costs need to go down by 75%, yes, that is right, 75% before we can be competitive again. Get rid of pensions. Then handle the real estate taxes, which almost double the mortgage amount. Schools have to be funded by the state and the parents. These pensions of the dozens of millions of retirees is just not sustainable. They might still collect all those nominal pensions, but not in real terms.

If we handle these 2 issues, the companies will be more eager to hire here rather than outsourcing, and people will have more money and be able to hold onto their homes.

Sep 06 02:42 AM

[tjfxh:]

In the end, this spells the end of free trade and globalization for a long while unless China floats the yuan (which they won't). The US cannot recover in the face of labor arbitrage when cross-border labor costs are so. disproportionate. Economic Neoliberalism was great while the developed world was on top. It's now about to be thrown under the bus to survive.

Sep 10 01:11 PM