The Work Force

For John, BLUF:  This is a study of not everybody, but of those in the prime working demographic.  People who should be out in the labor force.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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New Report Shows Growth of the Welfare State Has Fueled Long-Term Declines in the Labor Force

Here is the sub-headline:

Policies should incentivize employment; not discourage it.

From Foundation for Economic Eduction (FEE), by Journalist Brad Polumbo, 28 October 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

A massive labor shortage continues to grip the nation and hold back our economic recovery.  With countless pandemic and policy factors influencing the shortage, there’s a heated debate over what’s keeping so many workers out of the labor force.  But a new study confirms that the growth of the welfare state is playing a massive role—and that this trend began long before the pandemic.

Published by experts on the Republican side of the Senate Joint Economic Committee, the analysis reports, “the U.S. has witnessed an unprecedented rise in disconnected prime-age workers over time.”  As shown in the graph below, the men’s labor force participation rate has fallen from more than 97 percent in 1955 to 89 percent prior to the pandemic, while the women’s labor force participation rate has declined in recent decades as well.

This is not good news for the economy.  But, few are talking about it.  We need more people working, so that the Democrats in Washington, DC, can collect more taxes, to pay for their plans.  Or, we could remove disincentives in the work force and use the extra Federal taxes to pay down our towering Federal debt.

The alternative future is this:

We are better off with people working.  Work is a virtue, as Commentator Lawrence Kudlow tells us.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Stay in School

For John, BLUF:  More education, less unemployment.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Unemployment rate 3.7 percent for college grads, 6.7 percent for high school grads in March 2021

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Unemployment rate 3.7 percent for college grads, 6.7 percent for high school grads in March 2021 at BLM.

Here is the lede plus one:

The unemployment rate edged down to 6.0 percent in March 2021.  The rate is down considerably from its recent high in April 2020 but is 2.5 percentage points higher than before the pandemic in February 2020.  For those with a bachelor’s degree and higher, the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in March, down from a high of 8.4 percent in April 2020.

Finishing High School makes a big difference, as does finishing a college degree.

Regards  —  Cliff

Disrupting the Economy

For John, BLUF:  People are being innovative in earning money, making themselves available for small, discrete, jobs, often dubbed the Gig Economy.  Uber is an example.  It is disruptive.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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HR2474: Kills Right-to-Work, Takes AB5 Nationwide

From Victory Girls, by Ms Darleen Click, 28 January 2020.

Here is the lede:

Impeachment of OrangeManBad may dominate Democrat talking points, but they haven’t forgotten to continue to punish citizens for the crime of wanting to be left alone.  Up for a vote next week is HR2474.  The Protecting the Right to Organize Act will not just cancel the right-to-work laws in 27 states, but it also contains the same language as California’s AB5 aimed straight at independent contractors.

Last year the California Assembly passed a law, AB5, which was designed to reform the Gig Economy.

So far the major impact of AB5 has been to disrupt employment of Gig workers and sow uncertainty.  As the Blogger suggests, this is a step back toward a more feudal economic arrangement.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Doing More in Less Time

For John, BLUF:  There is probably a lot we don't know about high functioning organizations.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Microsoft experimented with a 4-day workweek, and productivity jumped by 40%

From Insider, by Ms Lisa Eadicicco, 4 November 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

An experiment that involved reducing the workweek by one day led to a 40% boost in productivity in a Microsoft subsidiary in Japan, the technology giant announced last week.

The trial was part of Microsoft's "Work-Life Choice Challenge," a summer project that examined work-life balance and aimed to help boost creativity and productivity by giving employees more flexible working hours.

Microsoft Japan closed its offices every Friday in August and found that labor productivity increased by 39.9% compared with August 2018, the company said.  Full-time employees were given paid leave during the closures.

The company said it also reduced the time spent in meetings by implementing a 30-minute limit and encouraging remote communication.

Microsoft isn't the first to highlight the productivity benefits of a four-day workweek. Andrew Barnes, the founder of a New Zealand estate-planning firm, Perpetual Garden, said he conducted a similar experiment and found that it benefited both employees and the company, according to CNBC.  It has adopted the four-day workweek permanently.

If this pans out it could result in increased production, and a better standard of living for all.

Of course it could be mostly due to the Hawthorne Effect.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

Jews Out of Labour

For John, BLUF:  When we start judging and making binary choices a lot of nuance gets lost and "marginal" groups find themselves in trouble.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Corbyn Supporters Launch Purge of Pro-Israel MPs From UK Labour Party

Here is the sub-headline:

From The Algemeiner, by Reporter Ben Cohen, 7 September 2018.

Here is the lede plus five:

A long-feared purge of pro-Israel parliamentarians from the British Labour Party began in earnest on Thursday, with one party meeting even broadcast live over the internet by PressTV — the official English-language mouthpiece of the Iranian regime.

Pro-Israel MPs Joan Ryan and Gavin Shuker both lost no-confidence votes at packed constituency meetings on Thursday night.

Purge is the appropriate term, given that it is the Labour Party.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Public Health in the UK

For John, BLUF:  Maggie Thatcher noted that, with socialism, you eventually run out of other peoples' money.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The NHS is our religion: it’s the only thing that saves it from the Tories

Acronym Alert:  NHS is Britain's National Health Service (Socialist Medicine).

Here is the sub-headline:

Public support remains passionate, allowing our health service to fend off attempts to undermine its core purpose

From The Guardian, by Ms Polly Toynbee, 3 July 2018.

Ms Toynbee is my favorite Labour Columnist.

Here is the lede:

lorious celebrations for this week’s NHS 70th birthday mark the proudest social democratic moment of our history.  The Labour party descended on Tredegar, Nye Bevan’s birthplace, to march through the streets to brass bands, and London marched too.  Everything lyrically expressed in Danny Boyle’s Olympic ceremony, with its 300 glowing NHS beds filled with bouncing children, is emotionally reprised in this reminder of our better selves.

Aneurin Bevan was a Welshman and a Labour Member of Parliament.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Strangling the Future

For John, BLUF:  The ability to innovate is critical to economic growth and increased services for customers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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In a big loss for Uber, European Union court says it must follow taxi company rules

From The Old Gray Lady, and Ms Liz Alderman, via The Boston Globe, 20 December 2017.

The lede:

NEW YORK — The European Union’s highest court on Wednesday declared that Uber is a transportation business, not just a technology platform that connects drivers and riders.

The ruling, a significant setback for a company that’s grappling with a string of scandals, will force Uber to comply with the bloc’s transportation rules.  It is also likely to restrict the company from expanding services that allowed nonprofessional drivers to offer rides to clients.

While the ruling focused on these so-called peer-to-peer operations, it will most likely be scrutinized by regulators looking more broadly at the so-called gig economy, a growing part of the workforce, in which people operate as freelancers or on short-term contracts, as opposed to holding permanent jobs.

Policy makers around the globe have been struggling with how to frame rules for a new style of employment as rapidly shifting business models outpace regulations that for decades were formulated around traditional 9-to-5 jobs.  Legislation in many countries has not kept up with the trend toward atypical work arrangements that companies use to cut costs.

Trying to force new businesses into the forms of the past is really just feather bedding, and is bad, in the long run, for both citizens and governments.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fair Compensation For Workers

For John, BLUF:  It is about how we cut up the pie.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A racist vestige of the past that progressives are happy to leave in place

From The Washington Post and the pen of Columnist George Will.♠

This is about the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931.

The Act mandates that contractors pay the local prevailing wages for laborers and for mechanics on federally funded public works projects and applies to:

"contractors and subcontractors performing on federally funded or assisted contracts in excess of $2,000 for the construction, alteration, or repair (including painting and decorating) of public buildings or public works."

Here is the "Bottom Line":

Davis-Bacon is rent-seeking, the use of political power to supplant the market as the allocator of opportunity and wealth.  Rent-seeking is lucrative, which is why there is so much of it, even when its pedigree is repulsive.

Mr Will thinks that this reduces the amount of infrastructure we produce each year, but enriches union workers.

A 2011 Heritage Foundation study estimated that Davis-Bacon would add almost $11 billion to that year’s construction costs.  That sum will be eclipsed when — if — bold talk about making America’s infrastructure great again is translated into spending.  Then we build up the national debt while purchasing less infrastructure than the appropriated sums should purchase.

There is the psychological impact of cost.  Look at the sticker shock for the new High School (or renovated High School) in Lowell.  Each option is north of $300 million.  Sometimes the status quo is preferable to spending more and more money.

We do need equity, but Mr Will is correct in noting the racist origins of Davis-Beacon.

Hat tip to Memeorandum.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Mr Will is so old school I bet it does still use a pen to write out his thoughts.

UK Labor Party Promises Good But Has a Bad Proposal

For John, BLUF:  With snap elections the weird ideas come out.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Labour party pledges to outlaw all zero-hours contracts

This is from The Guardian and Reporters Ewen MacAskill and Toby Helm, on Saturday, but the lead-in was from Samizdata and a Blog Post by Ms Natalie Solent, titled "Zero tolerance".

Great is the rejoicing among most of the Guardian commentariat at the news that the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, has said that if it wins the election the Labour party will outlaw all zero-hours contracts.

A "zero-hour contract" means no commitment to provide hours to workers or for workers to work the hours provided.

It turns out not everyone wishes to be protected by the nanny state.  And not all businesses thrive on the 40 hour work week—like newspapers, with stringers.

Hat tip to Samizdata.

Regards  —  Cliff

Equal Isn't Always 50%

For John, BLUF:  We should look for talent wherever we can find it and encourage all to work, even if it is raising children, which is a lot of work if done right.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The futile nature of gender equality

From USA Today and Ms Suzanne Venker we have a look at the statistics, in a general sort of way.

This article, published on the 14th of December, begins:

On Wednesday more than two dozen executives at companies such as Bank of America Corp. and LinkedIn Corp. signed a pledge to get more women out of the home and into our nation’s boardrooms.  The goal of this initiative, entitled Paradigm for Parity, is to have women represent 50% of the “upper echelons” by 2030.  Only then, these advocates believe, will America have achieved equality.

But gender parity in the workforce is futile.  There will never be enough women who want that kind of life — not as long as they choose to have children.  Indeed, children are “a key factor” in how women choose to structure their lives.

Basically Ms Venker is saying that if men and women are of equal capability and a percentage of women are stay at home moms, then were won't be enough women around.

Going to Wikipedia:

	Males	Females
Totals	101,612,000	104,577,000
In Labor Force	70,417,116	59,295,159

So, right off the bat "half" looks a little unfair.

If you accept that there are about 4 million births a year and ten percent of mothers drop out of the work force for a couple of years (and 2 percent of fathers), then it looks like this:

	Males	Females
Adjusted Number	70,017,116	57,295,159
Labor Force Percent	55%	45%

So, how is half of all folks in the upper echelon female fair?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

: Column

Immigration vs US Employment

For John, BLUF:  The Republican Candidates are not all wrong here.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From Buzz Feed we have "'All You Americans Are Fired'".  The investigative journalists for this longish piece are Ms Jessica Garrison, BuzzFeed News Reporter, Mr Ken Bensinger, BuzzFeed News Reporter, and Mr Jeremy Singer-Vine, BuzzFeed News Data Editor.

The lede:

The H-2 guest worker program, which brought in 150,000 legal foreign workers last year, isn’t supposed to deprive any American of a job.  But many businesses go to extraordinary lengths to deny jobs to U.S. workers so they can hire foreigners instead. A BuzzFeed News investigation.

This is not a good news story.  While I am a supporter of immigration and especially of the resettlement of refugees, the fact is that unless the US economy is growing (and it isn't♠), then this means Americans losing jobs.  Often minority Americans.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  By "it isn't" I mean that the U6 Unemployment numbers, while falling slowly month to month, are nearly double the number typically reported in news outlets, the U-3 unemployment rate. That is, more people dropping out of the work force (marginally attached).  They aren't all dropping out to go back to school or due to retirement.  Many of them are "discouraged workers".

Boomlet for E Warren

For John, BLUF:  It seems Senator Warren is irritating the President.  And perhaps visa-versa.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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What is it with the President and the Massachusetts Senior Senator, Ms E Warren?  The InstaPundit says I’M INCLINED TO THINK THAT THIS IS BEING STAGE-MANAGED, SO THAT THE DEMS HAVE SOMEBODY WITH SEPARATION FROM THE INCREASINGLY OBVIOUS DEBACLE OF THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY.  He goes on to say:

But on the other hand, would Obama’s ego allow him to entertain the thought that his presidency is a debacle?  But on the gripping hand, would Obama have to know? Obama’s growing frustration With Elizabeth Warren. with Elizabeth Warren.  “For weeks, the White House has been fending off attacks from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on trade negotiations, and now the president seems to be growing more impatient, dismissing one of her objections as ‘pure speculation.’”

Then there is the President calling Ms Warren by her first name, inflaming Progressives on both coasts and across the fruited plain.  For example, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).  This was enough to get White House press secretary Josh Earnest to comment.  Speaking on MSNBC's Morning Joe Mr Earnest, while calling Senator Brown “a stand-up guy”, also said:

I’m confident after he’s had a chance to look at the comments he made yesterday that he’ll find a way to apologize.

I don't think he has found a way to apologize.

This dustup is all about the President's trade deal, the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  back to the Politico story:

Brown, one of the top Democratic senators leading the charge against the president’s trade effort, suggested Tuesday that Obama was being “disrespectful” and hinted that Warren’s gender might have been a factor.

And, it doesn't help that the President wants to do it the old fashioned way, in private.  There has been all this talk about transparency and now some are being hoisted on their own petard.  With regard to most things in Government, transparency is a good thing, and allows us to have confidence when some particular things are kept in secrecy, as they should be.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Red Ed

For John, BLUF:  There may be lessons to be learned from this month's elections in the UK.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Why is Mr Ed Miliband, the recent leader of the British Labor Party, known as "Red Ed"?  I thought Red was the color of the more conservative, for example the GOP.  Ah, the Main Stream Media decided one day to use red to signify the GOP on election maps.  For the majority of the people on earth red is for revolution.  If it was someone with insight on the production staff who came up with this, it was, I am sure, for the humor of it.  On the other hand, in the United States the Republicans are the party of change.

All that said, here is Breitbart with an article looking at the British elections this month.  The headline is "ED’S DEAD:  WHERE THE BRITISH LEFT WENT SO HORRIBLY WRONG".  The author is Mr Milo Yiannopoulos.

Regards  —  Cliff

Where Illegal Immigration is Good Business

For John, BLUF:  Immigration is not just about creating new Americans.  It is also about changing the balance in what used to be a melting pot.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Here is an item on immigration from The Wall Street Journal.  "Georgia Town is Case Study in Immigration Debate:  Some Employers Say Influx Has Helped Bottom Line". The town is Dalton, Georgia.  The town is named after Newburyport, Massachusetts, born Tristram Dalton.

DALTON, Ga.— Charles Carmical doesn’t like President Barack Obama’s politics and doesn’t endorse his recent move to enable millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S.  But, the furniture-store owner acknowledges, it might be good for his bottom line.

“If these people make more money and feel stability, it will help my business,” said Mr. Carmical, standing in his Dalton Auctions showroom on South Dixie Highway.

Illegal immigration has changed the face of this northern Georgia town.  Mexicans and Central Americans flocked here by the thousands in the 1990s to toil in the mills that earned Dalton the nickname “carpet capital of the world.”  Now, the large concentration of undocumented people in this conservative corner of a conservative state will make it a powerful case study for the impact of Mr. Obama’s program as it rolls out in 2015.

This article raises a number of questions, including how the hinterlands really feels about immigration.  Another question is how the legalization of "undocumented" immigrants change the racial balance in the United States,♠ disturbing political and social balances and perhaps driving changes in employment statistics.  One report claims that all the new jobs created since the recent recession have gone, on balance to immigrants.  At the same time, the number of people dropping out of the labor market has increased.

Here we have the definitions for the larger numbers for unemployment in the United States:

U4: U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.
U5: U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.
U6: U5 + Part-time workers who want to work full-time, but cannot due to economic reasons (underemployment).

My question is if Blacks in the US, Blacks from Dalton, Georgia, fall into the U4, U5 and U6 categories, with long term adverse implications.

Here is one hopeful comment.

Mr. Carmical quoted a line often used by his father, who started the business about 60 years ago. “Money has one color,” he said.

The author of this article is Ms Miriam Jordan, whose EMail address is miriam.jordan@wsj.com.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Granted that race may be, as some suggest, merely a false construct.

Thuggery in Lansing

For John, BLUF:  Nothing to see here; just move along.

At The Instapundit is this item on the response to the punching of Reporter Stephen Crowder.

Not edifying.

Regards  —  Cliff

Public Service Unions vs Right to Work

For John, BLUF:  The pendulum swings and now union power is being challenged in the Rust Belt.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

It appears that "Right to Work" legislation is making a comeback.  In Michigan.

Don't get me wrong.  I support unions.  They are a needed counterbalance to big business.  However, I wonder if local elected officials are an effective counterbalance to public sector unions.  As the long term cost of government pensions♠ comes to the surface we might all have some concerns.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Yes, I do receive a "public pension", in the form of military retired pay.

Organized labor is in free fall

And that is not a good thing.  I am sure many of us have our pet gripe about this union or that, but the fact is that Unions have been good for the United States and, notwithstanding problems in the recent past, are still important for our workers (and thus the People) and the economy.  The headline showed up in The American Propect, here, but initially came from The New York Times, here.

Some may wish to say it is all about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.  The would be a misleading assessment.  First, it spreads a focus on public service unions (folks in the civil service) to Unions in private enterprise.  Secondly it misses that Unions once more must reinvent themselves to the economic realities of the day.  This is not he 1930s, when my Father helped lead a strike at a steel mill in Johnstown, PA.  Got his picture, a group picture, on page two of the NYT, or so he told me.  Industry is different today and Unions need to adapt.  Maybe swing back from the CIO Model to the AFL Model.  I am not an economist of Unions, so my thoughts are mere speculation, but I do know we can't afford to lose the Union side of the equation.  See Pope Leo XIII and Rerum Novarum.

Regards  —  Cliff