288,000 jobs added in June, the media breathlessly announces:
The economy added 288,000 jobs in June, a better-than-expected number that helped push the unemployment rate down to 6.1 percent.
It’s the lowest the unemployment rate had been since September 2008, the month Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, and the financial crisis that set off the recession began.
Stocks rose on the robust report, with the Dow Jones average topping 17,000 for the first time just after the markets opened.
The figures will have politicians wondering how the expanding economy might affect this year’s midterm elections, where Republicans are now favored to take back the Senate, in part, due to dissatisfaction with President Obama, whose approval ratings are hovering just above 40 percent.The strong number marks the fifth straight month of jobs growth above 200,000, bolstering hopes the economy has turned a corner.
The June report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics includes good news beyond its topline numbers as well.
It showed that the economy added 304,000 jobs in April, more than the 282,000 previously projected. The jobs count for May was also revised up, to 224,000 from 217,000.
But the news is not good. In fact, it’s bad.
It was predicted that Obamacare would lead to more part time jobs and fewer full time jobs as businesses looked to cut employee hours to escape the Obamacare burden.
No way, says Huffington Post:
Obamacare has not yet turned America into a nation of part-time workers, as many of its strongest critics have long said it would.
In fact, the opposite seems to be happening, according to new government numbers published Friday: The number of part-time jobs is actually shrinking, and full-time jobs are being created instead.
Specifically, the number of part-time workers in the U.S. fell in February to about 27.3 million, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. That number is down by about 300,000 since March 2010, when the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, became law.
Meanwhile, the ranks of full-time workers have grown by more than 2 million within the past year to 117.8 million in February. The number of part-time workers fell by about 230,000 over that period.
No way, says the Washington Post
The motivation to move even more workers into part-time positions is relatively straightforward. Employers can dodge the requirement to purchase health benefits and not pay a fine to the federal government. All of a sudden, they’re off the hook for an insurance policy that, on average, costs $9,562 to provide — and they don’t have to pay a fine.
We haven’t seen many employers move forward with such a change. A recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis found that 4 percent of companies it surveyed had moved to a larger, part-time workforce in response to the Affordable Care Act.
But the part time nation has emerged.
There is an ugly secret in the employment report. All of the new jobs were part time. Part time employment saw an explosion of nearly 800,000. 500,000 full time jobs were lost last month.
There’s more. The number not participating in the workforce rose by 111,000 last month to another new record. U6 unemployment, real total unemployment, remained at 12%.
You can raise little bear cubs and for a while they’re adorable. Problem is, eventually they will grow up and eat you. The bear is loose and he’s hungry.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.