Obama’s Jobs Gap Keeps Growing Wider

April 9, 2012

March Jobs Report Feeds Growing Pessimism About Jobs Outlook as Democrats Continue Policies That Are Destroying Jobs and Depressing Wages

Disappointing new jobs numbers released Friday suggest a weak outlook for the nation’s jobs recovery in the months ahead and highlight the failure of a Democrat stimulus spending spree that promised to have unemployment at 5.8% by now.
The new jobs report showed labor participation still dropping as discouraged workers leave the economy and the ranks of the long-term unemployed continue to swell.
Meanwhile, real incomes for middle class families remain stagnant, meaning that even America’s employed workers are suffering the consequences of Democrat policies that have made a bad economy worse.

Disappointing new jobs numbers released Friday suggest a weak outlook for the nation’s jobs recovery in the months ahead and highlight the failure of a Democrat stimulus spending spree that promised to have unemployment at 5.8% by now:

OBAMA STIMULUS PROJECTION SAID UNEMPLOYMENT AT 5.8% NOW:“Recall that back in 2009, White House economists Jared Bernstein and Christina Romer used their old-fashioned Keynesian model to predict how the $800 billion stimulus would affect employment. According to their model—as displayed in the above chart, updated—unemployment should be around 5.8% today.” (James Pethokoukis, “The Big March Jobs Miss—and Why the Real Unemployment Rate Sure Ain’t 8.2%,” American Enterprise Institute, 4/6/2012)

IN FACT, UNEMPLOYMENT IS AT 8.2%: (“Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4/6/2012)

“THE MARCH JOBS REPORT EXTENDS THE LONGEST-STREAK OF 8%+ UNEMPLOYMENT SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION”: (Tweet from James Pethokoukis, The American, 4/6/2012)

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE SAYS UNEMPLOYMENT WILL RETURN TO 5.3%, BUT NOT UNTIL 2021: (Annalyn Censky, “Unemployment Rate: How Low Can It Go?”, CNN Money, 4/4/2012)

ECONOMISTS AT GOLDMAN SACHS: NEW NORMAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE MAY BE “6% AT BEST”: (Annalyn Censky, “Unemployment Rate: How Low Can It Go?”, CNN Money, 4/4/2012)

The new jobs report showed labor participation still dropping as discouraged workers leave the economy and the ranks of the long-term unemployed continue to swell:

44,000 MORE PEOPLE DROPPED OUT OF LABOR FORCE THAN JOBS WERE CREATED: (“Table A-1. Employment Status of the Civilian Population by Sex and Age,”Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4/6/2012)

LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION DROPS TO 63.8%: (“Table A-1. Employment Status of the Civilian Population by Sex and Age,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4/6/2012)

12.7 MILLION AMERICANS REMAIN UNEMPLOYED: (“Table A-1. Employment Status of the Civilian Population by Sex and Age,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4/6/2012)

AVERAGE MEAN DURATION OF UNEMPLOYMENT AT RECORD HIGH:(“Average (Mean) Duration of Unemployment,” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 3/9/2012)

“THE OBAMA JOBS GAP IS UP TO 15 MILLION MISSING JOBS”: “A much-needed reminder that despite the recent upturn in the jobs market, there is still an awfully big employment hole to fill, as JPMorgan economist James Glassman points out…

“In other words, to restore the job market to the state it was in back in 2007, before the recession, would require the creation of 14.8 million jobs in today’s terms, a daunting task to say the least.”(James Pethokoukis, “The Obama Jobs Gap is up to 15 million missing jobs,” The American’s Enterprise Blog, April, 2, 2012)

Meanwhile, real incomes for middle class families remain stagnant, meaning that even America’s employed workers are suffering the consequences of Democrat policies that have made a bad economy worse:

CURRENT ECONOMIC GROWTH LEVELS “A RECIPE FOR MORE WAGE STAGNATION”: “Few economists think the economy will grow much more than 2.0% to 2.5% this year. That is a recipe for more wage stagnation — at best — and perhaps a tough time for Team Obama this fall.” (James Pethokoukis, “If Obama Loses in November, It’ll Probably Be Because of This Chart,” The American, 4/6/2012)

AVERAGE HOURLY WAGE “HAS INCREASED AT JUST 1.85 PERCENT ANNUAL RATE OVER THE LAST QUARTER, WHICH LIKELY PUTS IT BEHIND INFLATION”: “Wages continue to go nowhere. The average hourly wage has increased at just a 1.85 percent annual rate over the last quarter, which likely puts it behind inflation. The wage for production, non-supervisory workers, which better tracks the median wage, increased at just a 1.37 percent annual rate over this period.” (Dean Baker, “Job Growth Slows Sharply in March, Unemployment Edges Down to 8.2 Percent,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, 4/6/2012)

DROP IN LENGTH OF AVERAGE WORKWEEK: “One very discouraging item in the survey was a 0.1 hour drop in the length of the average workweek. While the data are erratic, the drop was driven largely by a decline of 0.3 hours in nondurable manufacturing, a sector where hours tend to be better measured.” (Dean Baker, “Job Growth Slows Sharply in March, Unemployment Edges Down to 8.2 Percent,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, 4/6/2012)