How strong is the jobs market? On Wednesday, payroll-processing firm ADP reported that last month was the weakest private sector hiring month since last September with only 119,000 jobs created. However, today the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that the U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs last month, more than the 148,000 expected by top economists. This supposedly dropped the unemployment rate to 7.5%. Who is right?
Whichever figures you decide to follow, REAL UNEMPLOYMENT remains very high! If you total: a) unemployment (11,700,00 for April = the same as March) b) those working involuntarily part-time (7,900,000 for April = an increase of 278,000 over March) and c) those who just gave up looking (2,300,000 for April = the same as March), you have a total of 21,900,000 or an increase of 300,000 over March! This is about 16% of the workforce that is either unemployed or underemployed!
My consultants regularly answer the phones of these great Americans who are eager to work, but don’t have an opportunity to do so. Just a walk back home yesterday down Broadway showed many small businesses that had been there in the last few months now out of business! What politicians regularly trumpet, but fail to grasp is small businesses are the real engine for jobs growth creating almost 70% of the net new jobs over the last 20 years. Unfortunately, many of the current policies run contrary to what small business owners need to succeed and add new jobs!
