Can We Afford to be Optimistic?
On Google News this morning I found an article called U.S. Shed Fewer Jobs Than Expected in April. My first reaction to the headline and the first paragraph was hopeful. We’ve only lost 20,000 jobs. And according to a related article on NPR, we’ve gained more in the medical field! But should we really be jumping for joy right away? We may be jumping the gun if we do that.
And my suspicions were proved correct when I read the rest of the article. As hopeful as some people are, some economists have taken note that this doesn’t mean we are out of hot water:
Companies are cutting working hours, even as many avoid layoffs. Those working part time because of slack business or out of failure to find full-time work swelled from to 5.2 million in April from 4.9 million in March. In percentage terms, employees working part time involuntarily climbed to the highest level since 1995.
So, even with this lower rate of unemployment and job losses, we have more people making less money. Wages are still being driven down.
I also read the rest of the NPR article. GM is about to shaft 3,550 workers because people aren’t buying their shitty SUVs anymore. Not only that, but with the rising costs of food and gas, we are no where near a solution. “That’s likely to keep the economy sputtering for at least the next year” according to the economist in the article.
And of course, the Times article mentions a fact rarely factored in by ever hopeful supply-siders; that the unemployment rate doesn’t count the number of people who have had so much trouble trying to find a job that they’ve given up. This extra 470+ thousand people don’t help the numbers very much.
And so, as hopeful as the article sounded at first, things are still a big fucking drag if you ask me. I would suggest that America stay on Recession Diet. (Listen to the audio).
Chris Said:
on May 2, 2008 at 8:15 pm
This type of report just gives the Bush administration another chance to claim that “the economy is strong.” (Really, I can hear Dubya saying that right now)
The economy is going to hell in a hand basket. The numbers might not show it right now, and it may not yet be congruent with the TECHNICAL definition of recession, but trust me… we, the working class, are already feeling the pinch.
lunawolf Said:
on May 2, 2008 at 11:41 pm
I’ve never seen it this bad. It’s ridiculous.
Will Rhodes Said:
on May 3, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Eee, lass - tha shuda’ been in Yorksha in’t 70’s ‘n erly 80’s.
(^^,)
lunawolf Said:
on May 3, 2008 at 5:08 pm
That’s true. Having been born in ‘84, I really only remember as far back as the last couple years of Bush I and the age of Clinton.
Will Rhodes Said:
on May 4, 2008 at 2:45 pm
This is why age is wasted on the young - or something like that.
I am an old bastard so I remember all sorts of things from 4 decades.
lunawolf Said:
on May 4, 2008 at 9:22 pm