WELCOME TO A PERPETUAL DEPRESSED ECONOMY

On 10/2/15, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the good news: a national unemployment rate of 5.1%—the lowest since April 2008.  The favorable report didn’t have much time to gather accolades, for on the following day a lead story in the New York Times announced “LACKLUSTER JOBS REPORT RAISES CONCERNS.”

How can it be that unemployment is approaching record lows while reports from credible analysts reveal that the employment market is experiencing “very low levels of job creation and wage growth [which] isn’t budging”?  It’s easily explained.  When it comes to reporting, the numbers thrown about by Labor Department spokesmen bear no relation to reality.  In short, the federal government is faking it.  But why, you ask?  Because a strong economy with a vibrant labor force and low unemployment makes the administration, and all its departments, look good.  It’s as basic as that.

How’s it done?  It’s a matter of manipulating the numbers.  Unemployment is reportable in a variety of ways.  The government category, known as U3, lists only persons without a job who have actively looked for work during the prior four weeks   This is how they create the 5.1% rate.  A realistic method would actually count employable people without full-time work.  But instead they ignore those who’ve been vainly searching for employment for months, as well as others that have simply given up looking.  If all such jobless, or marginally employed persons, were to be counted, we’d probably see no less than 20% of the potential workforce without meaningful employment.

What does the future hold?  It’s my belief many of the jobs lost over the past decade or so are gone for good.  In particular, those low-skilled employees whose functions have been replaced by technology or by the export of their occupations to countries which boast slave-wage salaries are becoming essentially unemployable.  Despite the trickery which the Labor Department employs in contriving favorable jobs reports, the truth will eventually become impossible to hide as more and more citizens find themselves without a viable means of support.

 

                                                 ♦          ♦          ♦          ♦          ♦

 In addition to this Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, I’m now generating a monthly Financial Newsletter.  It normally appears the first of each month and may be viewed on my website.  Click onto http://www.onthemoneytrail.net/