Looking under the hood of today’s jobs report shows it isn’t the home run that Democrats and the media claim.
Approximately half of the 303,000 jobs created last month came in the unproductive government or quasi-government healthcare sectors. These are not the types of jobs that drive growth and improve Americans’ living standards.
Looking at the broader Household Survey, which includes ordinary self-employed workers, shows a far clearer picture than the Establishment Survey, which double-counts multiple jobholders. For instance, it reveals full-time jobs actually declined last month, while part-time jobs exploded. It shows there are 400,000 fewer Americans employed than in November – the mirror image of the Establishment Survey’s topline number.
Just as troubling, the jobs report shows average wages are growing slower than inflation again, decreasing living standards. Needless to say, wages that can’t keep up with inflation are not a sign of a strong labor market.
Don’t expect to hear any of these hard truths from the mainstream media, even though they are far more reflective of the actual state of the jobs market and broader economy.
While the economy is working for Wall Street and K Street, it’s on fumes for Main Street. According to JCN’s latest national poll of small business owners, respondents say, by a two-to-one margin, that the economy is getting worse, not better. Two-thirds are concerned that economic conditions could force them to close.
Social media is riddled with videos about how people can’t find jobs, and if they can, they don’t pay enough to make ends meet. The Democrats’ cost-of-living crisis is real. The average American family is paying an extra $12,000 annually in inflation and has record credit card debt. Eight in ten Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. A new Wall Street Journal analysis shows grocery bills are up 37% since the pandemic.
The Biden administration is putting more pressure on the labor market and economy by rushing out a slew of regulations in an effort to beat the Congressional Review Act deadline.
Exhibit A is its recent tailpipe emissions regulations on automobiles and heavy-duty trucks. These require two-thirds of all new cars sold to be electric in just a few years, up from 8% now, and one-third of heavy-duty trucks to be electric, even though this technology remains non-economic. President Trump is right when he points out that these regulations will cause a bloodbath for the American auto industry and its 4.4 million workers.
The EPA is also poised to release its rule on power plant emissions that will shut down some power plants, increase energy costs, and directly and indirectly destroy many jobs. The Energy Department is set to release new energy efficiency standards, including on appliances like washers and dryers. Welcome to the era of 4-hour loads of laundry.
The Office of Personnel Management is finalizing a rule to make the civil service almost impossible to fire, entrenching job-killing bureaucrats for generations. Call it a meta-regulation as it grows the tentacles of the deep state.
One thing Congress can do to help the labor market is pass the bipartisan tax cut bill negotiated by Rep. Jason Smith that recently passed the House. The legislation extends several key business tax cuts, including immediate expensing and research and development deductions that passed as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Small businesses have called these tax cuts a “game-changer,” and they free up funds to hire and expand, boosting productive jobs in the real economy. This legislation can help counteract the economic damage done by the Biden administration.
Like Atlas, small businesses are holding up the American labor market on their backs despite suffering from overregulation, over-taxation, persistent inflation, and a credit crunch. They won’t be able to shoulder this load for much longer — let alone another four years.
Alfredo Ortiz is CEO of Job Creators Network, author of “The Real Race Revolutionaries,” and co-host of the Main Street Matters podcast.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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