ZERO Jobs Added in August, Jobless Rate Stays at 9.1%
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The U.S. economy added no jobs in August—that’s ZERO jobs—and the nation’s unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data out this morning.
The August jobs report is the worst since September 2010. Some 14 million workers remain unemployed, but a total of some 26 million Americans are unemployed, underemployed or have stopped looking for work.
Employment increased primarily in two areas: health care by 30,000 and mining by 6,000. Employment in the information industry declined by 48,000 in August, with 45,000 workers at Verizon on strike. Manufacturing lost 3,000 jobs and employment in construction, trade, transporation and other areas changed little over the month. Job loss in the public sector totaled 17,000 in August. Since employment peaked in September 2008, local government has lost 550,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate for adult men is 8.9 percent and 8 percent for women. Some 16.7 percent of African Americans and 11.3 percent of Hispanics are unemployed, with teenagers at 25.4 percent unemployment.
Still Nickel and Dimed and (Not) Getting by in America
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Congratulations to author Barbara Ehrenreich for the 10th anniversary re-issuance of her classic study of the working poor, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America.” Ehrenreich didn’t just write a theoretical study, she based the book on her experiences working as a waitress, a Wal-Mart “associate,” a nursing home aide and a maid employed by a cleaning service. At the time the book came out, Ehrenreich wrote a piece for us based on her experiences. She concluded:
…even in an economy celebrating unequaled prosperity, a person can work hard, full-time or even more, and not make enough to live on.
That was in 2001. The U.S. unemployment rate at mid-year was 4.5 percent. There were 150,400 home foreclosures in the first quarter of that year, as reported in Aug. 17, 2001, by The New York Times, which noted that home sales were on track to make 2001 the second-best year ever.
Today, the 2001 economy seems like a dream. America’s jobless rate has hovered between 9.1 percent and 10.1 percent for more than a year, with foreclosures in July alone totaling 221,763—and that figure is a 44-month low.
Working at low-wage jobs during the dot.com boom when the economy was buzzing, Ehrenreich wrote that while employed as a waitress,
The United States—Europe’s New Mexico?
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More and more, you hear the phrase: “The United States is Europe’s Mexico.” And for good reason. Not only are 25 million workers looking for jobs in this country, if they’re lucky enough to find a job, chances are, it won’t pay well and often won’t provide paid sick leave, let alone retirement security.
As Jane Slaughter describes in her well-circulated article, “high-priced consultants” are “predicting that within five years certain Southern U.S. states will be among the cheapest manufacturing locations in the developed world—and competitive with China.” But Slaughter also writes that wages are sinking not only in the notoriously anti-union and thereby low-wage South, but increasingly the North as well.
From Slaughter:
For years advisers like the Boston Consulting Group [BCG] got paid big bucks to tell their clients to produce in China. Now, they say, rising wages there, fueled by worker unrest, and low wages in Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina mean that soon it won’t be worth the hassle of locating overseas.
New Jobs Created Are Nearly All Low-Wage
So, even as there are still 4.7 workers for every one job, the jobs that are being created are primarily low-wage—and the wages in those jobs have fallen disproportionately, according to a new report by the National Employment Law Project (NELP).
From the first quarter of 2010 through the first quarter of 2011, the most recent data available, lower-wage occupations grew by 3.2 percent, with retail salespersons, office clerks, cashiers, food preparation workers and stock clerks topping the list. Mid-wage occupations, including paralegals, customer service representatives and machinists, grew by only 1.2 percent, while higher-wage occupations declined by 1.2 percent, which includes occupations like engineers, registered nurses and finance workers.
While overall, wages have fallen 0.6 percent since the start of the recession, lower-wage jobs Read the rest of this entry »
One in Three Young Workers Lives at Home With Their Parents
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The AFL-CIO and our community affiliate Working America released a major study, “Young Workers: A Lost Decade,” in recent days that shows the extent to which the economic situation for young workers has deteriorated in the past 10 years.
One of the most striking findings comes as no surprise to millions of baby boomer parents: Young workers are so financially strapped they have to come back home and live with mom and dad. In fact, one in three workers under age 35 currently live at home with their parents.
The combination of college loan debt, stagnant or low wages and a lack of jobs and health care is making the American Dream of making it on your own a thing of the past for many young workers.
One in three young workers are living at home because they can’t afford to live on their own. What do you think about this? What should be done to fix the nation’s economy?
Post your comments and let’s have a dialogue.
Wal-Mart: Recession Profiteer
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Bank and insurance CEOs aren’t the only ones getting rewarded for horrendous behavior in this recession. There’s Wal-Mart, whom Newsweek now has anointed as “Our Corporate Savior.” (Hat tip to dakine01.)
“Wal-Mart recently announced that its same store sales in January were up 2.1 percent, which was more than forecast. With the company’s huge network of stores and ability to strong-arm suppliers, Wal-Mart offers shoppers good merchandise at prices which becomes more and more attractive as the downturn continues.”
The brutal truth is that Wal-Mart is profiting in the midst of misery because of policies that, like those of the financial services industry, fueled the nation’s economic disaster. While banks rolled up and peddled collateralized debt packages like cheap tuna wraps, Wal-Mart’s assault on America’s economy came from another angle–everyday low wages. By paying the vast majority of its workers little more than the minimum wage and offering health care plans most can’t afford, Wal-Mart shifted its corporate expenses to taxpayers.
