Non-Farm Payrolls Rise 144,000

August was a good month for the jobless in the US. Wall Street expected 150,000 new jobs, and the actual figure was 144,000. This is the twelfth straight month of job growth. Yet, America has 1 million fewer jobs now than when Mr. Bush became president. The last president to lose jobs on his watch was Herbert Hoover. The trend is up, but the hole the unemployed are in is a deep one.

Far more damaging are the kinds of jobs that are appearing. Senators Kerry and Edwards have made much of the fact that the average person who was laid off earlier in this administration and who has since found work now has a job that pays $9,000 less per annum. This is the sort of figure that sticks only because it is repeated. No one can make such a broad generalization and put a figure on it that holds up to scrutiny. But the fact remains that the re-employed usually earn less than before the job loss.

The problem is quality versus quantity of employment. Lost in the jobless debates are the number of underemployed, or those who have given up looking for work entirely. It is doubtful that jobs that put the average worker into middle class will revive. The future is one of a much thinner middle class, and a broader band of working poor in the US.

Be that as it may, it is hard to be disappointed by August's job figures, and the upward revision of the non-farm payrolls for June and July, which tacked an extra 59,000 jobs onto the summer's total. September may be an odd month as many college students withdraw from the work force, and October's figures appear post-election.




© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.




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