James Pethokoukis begins with an ugly-looking graphic:
This was not a good jobs report. Certainly not one that suggests a shift into a higher growth gear. The Two Percent-ish economy crawls on. The US economy added 142,000 jobs in August — much less than 225,000 expected — as the unemployment rate ticked down to 6.1%. But the jobless rate fell only because the labor force shrank by 64,000, notes economist Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics. The alternative household survey found employment increased by only 16,000 last month. Also, payroll gains in June and July were revised lower by 28,000, although those downward revisions were all in government. Private payrolls were actually nudged up, according to RDQ Economics. And consider: There are just 1.2 million more private jobs today than January 2008 despite 15.6 million more non-jailed, non-military adults. While the unemployment rate has dropped by 1.1 percentage points over the past year, the employment rate is up just 0.2 points. …One more thing: Wages are still a problem, with average hourly earnings up just 2.1% the past year. Check out this ugly chart (via the WSJ) from Joe Brusuelas, the chief economist at McGladrey:
Not that the number should be so surprising. The anemic economy is generating jobs at the top and bottom, not so much in the middle. “Average is over” as economist Tyler Cowen has put it.
Pethokoukis is being a cockeyed optimist in comparison with the reality of his first two commenters:
The real unemployment rate is closer to 18% not the 6.1% reported. It is time to be more honest in these communications. Americans know it; time economists and politicians to stop kidding themselves!
With the current manner of computing, the lower the labor participation rate, the lower the unemployment rate. At this rate our labor participation rate could drop to who knows how low, and we’d have no unemployment. WTF?
Another commenter states plainly what must happen, though the majority of American voters apparently are stupid enough to vote for more of the same crap (see Clinton, Hillary):
The jobs and wage growth are in the same place as uninvested capital – waiting in the wings for some sanity to be restored to the American economy. The liberal Democratic distortions such as restrictive regulations, uncertainties about health insurance, energy cost and other cost inputs, higher taxes, and threats of unrealistic minimum wages have discouraged all businesses from investments and growth that would create new jobs and stimulate the economy. If you want to see the free market in action, producing negative results under a liberal regime and positive results under a conservative regime, you need look no further than California and Texas.
If a Republican were presiding over this economy, Democrats would be lining up impeachment votes.
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 
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