U.S. Incomes Down, Jobless Rate Up, America Wants to Work
So, Congress this week passed a budget bill that did nothing to address the nation’s jobs crisis.
Meanwhile, back in real-world America:
- The unemployment rates rose in more than 90 percent of U.S. cities in June, “mirroring a national slowdown in hiring.” Jobless rates worsened in 345 large metro areas, dropped in 20 cities and were unchanged in seven. That’s worse than May, when rates rose in only 210 cities, the Labor Department announced yesterday.
- U.S. incomes plummeted again in 2009, with total income down 15.2 percent in real terms since 2007, new tax data showed on Wednesday and reported by Reuters. “The data showed an alarming drop in the number of taxpayers reporting any earnings from a job—down by nearly 4.2 million from 2007—meaning every 33rd household that had work in 2007 had no work in 2009.
- Nearly every economic indicator is down, notes the New York Times today. Economix writer Catherine Rampall analyzed the data in overall economic growth (gross domestic product), jobs, personal income, length of the workweek, personal spending and industrial production. All down.
- ProPublica compiled a “Sputtering Economy by the Numbers” list that includes a myriad of factoids such as: Total jobs lost since January 2008: 8.7 million. Total jobs recovered since January 2008: 1.8 million. Read the full list here (if you have the stomach for it).
- And then there’s the chart below, showing the United States has hit another record: 45.8 million people are getting food stamps. As Meteor Blads writes on Daily Kos: ”It would be a lot more, but only about 67 percent of the eligible people actually apply.”
On Strike? Republicans Don’t Want Your Family to Eat
How low can Republicans go in their attacks on working families and their unions?
Think Progress reports today that “a group of House Republicans is launching a new stealth attack against union workers” by prohibiting the family of a worker on strike from receiving food stamps.
The stealth provision is buried in H.R. 1135, a bill based designed to ”provide information on total spending on means-tested welfare programs, to provide additional work requirements, and to provide an overall spending limit on means-tested welfare programs.”
Republican Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Tim Scott (S.C.), Scott Garrett (N.J.), Dan Burton (Ind.), and Louie Gohmert (Texas) introduced the bill, which also includes a provision that would exempt households from losing eligibility, “if the household was eligible immediately prior to such strike, however, such family unit shall not receive an increased allotment as the result of a decrease in the income of the striking member or members of the household.”
As Think Progress notes:
With a record 42 million Americans on food stamps during these poor economic times, it appears that the right is simply looking for more ways to hurt working class Americans.
More Jobs Lost in Sept., as Corporations Hoard Cash, Refuse to Hire
Some 95,000 jobs were lost in September, fueled by a loss of government employment, which declined by 159,000 jobs, and minimal hiring in the private sector, which added 64,000 jobs. The new jobs data released by the U.S. Department of Labor today also show the nation’s September unemployment rate remained unchanged from August at 9.6 percent. Public-sector job losses include 83,000 lost at the state and local level, of which 58,000 were in education.
The 64,000 new jobs is about half of what is required to absorb new labor force entrants. To lower the unemployment rate to 6 percent by 2013, the economy needs to add 350,000 jobs a month.
The number of workers who are underemployed, which includes those who are too discouraged to look for work or are working part-time out of economic necessity, worsened to 17.1 percent from 16.7 percent in August. More than 26 million U.S. workers are without jobs or full-time work.
July Jobs Numbers: Still a Crisis
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Another 131,000 jobs were lost in July, and the U.S. unemployment rate remained at 9.5 percent, as in June. The new data out this morning from the Department of Labor reflects a lack of private-sector hiring and large numbers of jobless workers returning to the market. Private-sector hiring increased by 71,000 but was offset by the 143,000 decrease in temporary federal Census employees who completed their work. The unemployment rate was unchanged only because another 181,000 workers left the labor force.
The number of people who are underemployed, which includes those who are too discouraged to look for work or are working part time out of economic necessity, is 16.5 percent. Some 26 million U.S. workers are without jobs or full-time work.
Manufacturing employment increased by 36,000, health care by 27,000 jobs and mining by 7,000. Construction employment decreased by 11,000, with 10,000 out due to strikes. People of color continue to suffer disproportionately, with 15.6 percent of black workers unemployed and 12.1 percent of Latino workers jobless.
Unemployed in America
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The unemployment figures were so bad Friday—half a million U.S. jobs lost in one month—some in the corporate media actually sounded a bit alarmed. Still, the overriding impulse of mainstream journalists is to look on the bright side.
Like NPR, for instance, which offers a handy chart showing how unemployment was worse in the early 1980s than it is now. The chart’s cutsy title: “In Case It Makes You Feel Better,” begs an answer, such as: You gotta be kidding?
Such “things could always be worse” journalism—like yeah, a plague of locusts could be in my backyard—is pretty tiresome, but imagine how it must sound to those who really are suffering from job loss?
