The numbers are out for June employment and both the employed people numbers are down and the unemployment rate, at 9.5%, is down.
This would tend to indicate that people are becoming discouraged at finding employment and thus dropping out of the work force.
I would not describe this as either a good trend or an indication that the economy is headed back up.
Regards — Cliff
3 comments:
Why is Scott Brown not voting for the UI extension?
From IAVA:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released their jobs report for the month of June, and the economic situation for new veterans looks bleak.
Numbers you need to know:
11.5 percent: Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans' unemployment rate in June.
9.5 percent: national unemployment rate in June.
12.5 percent: average unemployment rate of new veterans during the first six months of 2010.
sigh... companies are just running really lean with the workforce they have and making a profit. people doing more work, with no pay raise or increased benefit. companies know there is really no job growth out there, so current employees will accept what is. bleh. slow indeed.
Although Scott Brown never told me this in a private conversation, I think the reason that he isn't voting to extend unemployment benefits is that it subsidizes unemployment. Yeah, I know. I've read and heard all the counter arguments. But, as inhumane as it may sound....and be......if you have a stream of income that is guaranteed, it does take some of the edge off of needing to find work. Moreover, it just adds more to the staggering debt that this Administration has created and is happily growing. Government is NOT the answer to everything....and quite possibly....anything. I think it was Cal Coolidge who said that the best government is that which, if it disappeared suddenly, would be unnoticed. I could have that source wrong...
Say it again...and again...and AGAIN. The US business environment has been increasingly toxic for many years...and that is why we have unemployment. There are no jobs, and there are no jobs because those jobs are being performed by someone else in some other country. Why has the automotive industry essentially collapsed? In large part because of high labor costs. Back to the "entitlement" mentality. American workers feel "entitled" to annual pay raises and high end pay rates. Eventually, you either have to raise the prices to pay for the costs, or you have to cap the costs. To those who say, "No, cap the profits" I respond immediately with "Profit is why one is in business and if you cap it or reduce it you remove the incentive to do the business to begin with."
Tax the rich and the rich move away.
There is a balance, and thus far, largely because of government intrusiveness and quasi government entities like Big Labor, that balance is not currently achieved.
There are no jobs because there are no companies.
And before anyone shoots back that Ford shoots down my posit, much of that Ford that rolls out the door of the assembly line is produced off shore and Ford has simply come closer to striking that labor/business balance. Government Motors continues to delude itself into thinking that the good old days were....well...good. Chrysler has flat-lined long ago....but still doesn't know it or believe it.
Steel...well...it was stolen long ago.
What America produces is financial paper. That is our industry.
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