January job growth high and unemployment lowest since 1969.

Uncategorized 1 Minute

https://wapo.st/3lboXfm

If paywalled, the same story is everywhere. Only about a quarter of the jobs were in hospitality, the rest in high paying sectors like professionals, construction, healthcare. Pretty good news…unless you are a Republican in the House.

Published by lenrothman

Published

54 thoughts on “January job growth high and unemployment lowest since 1969.”

  1. Yep, we are about back to where we were when COVID hit.

    COVID did a lot of harm to the labor force, many people are not coming back to the jobs they left, having found gig niches to fill or have voluntarily retired early. As a result, unemployment is low because of low labor force participation.

    There is a lot of opportunity now, for those who will pursue it.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/qai/2023/01/25/unemployment-is-low-but-so-is-the-labor-force-participation-rate—whats-going-on-in-the-us-labor-market/?sh=7a1abd1a244e

    Like

    Reply

    1. True, but many of those who left the market are not returning. As far as back to where we were, the rate is the lowest since 1969. That is long before the pandemic.

      This economy is breaking some rules, but optimism reigns. People are leaving jobs for better ones too.

      The last thing we want is an optimistic electorate.😇

      Back to laptops and M&M’s.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. A low labor participation rate makes the low unemployment rate a poor indicator of the economy. The unemployment rate only counts those looking for regular work, not those working off book or by gig.

        Like

        Reply

          1. Where did I claim that a low labor participation rate was a good thing for any President?

            You seem intent on debating straw men.

            You find hypocrisy in things I say only in your imagination, so where does the hypocrisy really live?

            Like

          2. I find hypocrisy in most of your statements. “My side good, your side bad” is ALWAYS your way of commenting.

            If you don’t like it, take a look at what you say about whom and when.

            Like

          4. Sorry if my interpretation of your words causes you to feel put upon. You are so blind to your own hypocrisy you attempt to deflect it on me. Very NEW Conservative of you.

            Like

    2. You people cannot help yourselves, can you. Good news could not possibly have anything to do with the Democrats in power even though every bit of bad news is ENTIRELY their fault.

      And, BTW, total employment now is 156 million. In January 2019 it was 150 million. So, your first statement is quite a bit off the mark.

      The labor participation rate was 63.3% at the beginning of 2019. It is now 62.4%. Hardly the dramatic change that you are throwing out to discredit the Biden economy. Is this modest decline anything much beyond demographics – our aging population? The rate for the youngest demographic reported is at pre-pandemic levels.

      https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I didn’t say Biden caused the low labor participation, on the contrary I explained some of it. I’m just pointing out that low unemployment does not mean as much with low participation.

        Like

        Reply

        1. “Just pointing out . . .”
          And what about your bogus claim that ignores 6 million more jobs than before the pandemic? You clear intent was to discredit the accomplishment with both parts of your comment. As I noted, you people cannot help yourselves.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

          1. Being in office when the marketplace overcomes Biden’s attempts to sabotage it is not an accomplishment.

            You often allude to what you think tax receipts could be had Trump not made changes even though they are objectively up.

            I would assert that the economy would be far better absent Biden’s attempts to destroy the domestic energy industry.

            Like

          2. “Being in office when the marketplace overcomes . . .”

            Yeah, sure. But now you are confirming that I was right in the first place and your denial of your intent [“Just pointing out”] was bogus. And you still have not responded to your use of the “alternative fact” that we are just back to pre-pandemic employment levels when, in fact, we are now 6 million higher. Can you not attack President Biden’s accomplishments with TRUE facts? Apparently not.

            BTW, my statements about tax receipts reductions from tax cuts have been from the CBO not something that I made up.

            Liked by 1 person

          3. The actual numbers show that there was no decrease in tax receipts. Your claim was that there would have been more.

            And we are not anywhere near back to pre pandemic conditions, the number so jobs are back but real income is still greatly down and falling.

            And that is directly because of Bidens’ war on energy.

            Like

          4. “The actual numbers show that there was no decrease in tax receipts”
            No, they don’t. You are including payroll taxes in that bogus claim. Deficits shot up BEFORE the pandemic because of the foolish, full-employment tax giveaway to the wealthy. Look it up.

            “. . .the number so jobs are back”
            You are called for arguing from falsehoods and you just double down on the falsehood. The number of jobs are not just back, they are up from 150 million to 156 million. If the Biden economy were merely bounce back from the pandemic then we would be at 150 million. Duh!

            Liked by 1 person

          7. Even Biden’s cheerleaders at The Hill concede that wage growth is slowing and is just over half the rate of inflation.

            That’s what happens when you trade energy and manufacturing jobs for retail and service sector jobs.

            Like

          9. Yeah, instead of being just over twice the rate of wage increase, inflation is down to just under twice the rate of wage increase.

            Alarmist climate policies are both raising costs and trading high wage jobs for lower wage jobs.

            Like

          11. Because you say so?

            We have placed every possible roadblock in the way of energy production, granting leases but then blocking the necessary pipelines with Sue and Settle, Refusing to sell leases in site of court orders, Dragging out permitting months more than before.

            Higher energy costs are poison for the economy and help drive up food costs as well.

            Energy sector jobs pay more than service jobs as well.

            https://heartland.org/opinion/biden-climate-energy-policies-costs-high-and-rising/

            Like

          13. “Higher energy costs are poison for the economy”

            Maybe so, but they have been steadily coming down since it became clear that Putin’s petro weapon was another of his failures. Natural gas prices have been plummeting. World events and weather have far more impact on energy markets than your cherry-picked whines.

            Liked by 1 person

          14. Energy prices have come off their peak but they are still way above Pre-Biden levels and the effects of that peak will be coming down the supply chain for months.

            In the coming years, more people will die of climate policy than climate could ever harm.

            Like

          15. And oil companies are reporting RECORD profits again. And while the price of a barrel of crude oil closed around $73 yesterday, pump prices are over $3.30/gal.

            This corporate greed is continuing, yet YOU continue to blame climate policies instead.

            Liked by 1 person

          17. “The market is what it is because of the Biden policies.”

            Maybe you should look at actual energy cost history before going too far down the blame Biden road? It ain’t nearly as bleak as you paint it.

            Liked by 1 person

          19. “Energy prices have come off their peak but they are still way above Pre-Biden levels ”

            You mean when the economy was in free fall due to the failed management of the pandemic? Those Pre-Biden levels.

            George W. Bush was “Pre-Biden.” He was President some years ago, you may recall. During his watch gasoline prices moved above $4.o0 a gallon.

            And here is a chart of Natural Gas Prices over the last 30 years. As usual, reality does not match your alternative facts . . .

            https://www.macrotrends.net/2478/natural-gas-prices-historical-chart#:~:text=The%20prices%20shown%20are%20in%20U.S.%20dollars.%20The,is%20%243.35.%20Historical%20Chart%2010%20Year%20Daily%20Chart

            Liked by 1 person

          21. SO wind and solar related jobs are low wage? Go figure.

            Actually, your argument is full of the usual love for fossil fuels, HUGE profits for oil companies and disparaging the idea of research, development and evolution.

            Like

          26. Do you own research then. Show me the study where the Spanish experiment produced net employment gains. (Not the projections, the experience)

            I chose the AEI piece because it was the most technically complete, but there are many others.

            Like

          27. “The wind and solar industry does create high paying jobs, primarily in China.”

            Cute, but nowhere even close to the truth.

            Approximately 70% – 80% of the cost of a wind turbine installation is U.S. based.

            As for solar installations, the actual cost of the solar cells – often but not always made by LOW paid Chinese workers – is not the main part of the cost. It is roughly 25%. Here is a list of fifteen high paying jobs generated by solar technology. Working in a Chinese factory is not on the list. . .

            https://www.careeraddict.com/top-5-jobs-in-the-solar-energy-industry-today

            And, BTW, there are a significant and growing number of American companies manufacturing the solar panels.

            https://www.allamericanmade.com/solar-panels-made-in-usa/

            Liked by 1 person

          28. The reason so many manufacturing jobs moved to China is because of the lower labor costs. Your statement about …”high paying jobs, primarily in China.” is very contradictory to the facts.

            Liked by 1 person

          30. You said that the high paying jobs in renewable energy sources are in China. Which way do you want to approach your argument? That China’s labor costs are low or that their solar and wind jobs are higher paying than what can be accomplished here?

            Liked by 1 person

          31. RE: “Even Biden’s cheerleaders at The Hill concede that wage growth is slowing and is just over half the rate of inflation.”

            In a supply-and-demand model, one would expect low or depressed wages to be the result of an oversupply of labor. For that reason, I suspect the jobs report is misleading in some way.

            Like

  3. RE: “Only about a quarter of the jobs were in hospitality, the rest in high paying sectors like professionals, construction, healthcare.”

    The (leisure and) hospitality jobs were the leading growth category. Also, it isn’t quite accurate to describe all the remaining job categories as “high paying.” Construction, for example, includes unskilled labor.

    ZeroHedge describes the report this way: “Of this 517K, service jobs contributed 397K while government jobs adds an additional 74K. As always, leisure and hospitality was one of the reasons for the high print. The sector added the most jobs since September, primarily at restaurants and bars.”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/january-payrolls-explode-517k-8-sigma-beat-expectations-unemployment-rate-tumbles-record

    So, yes, a great jobs report, but not much evidence that our economy is producing either goods or innovations.

    Like

    Reply

  4. Weird, why just a few days ago Paul claimed young people are resorting to lethal fentanyl abuse because there are no jobs. So according to this “good news” he’s a liar…again. We still have this 40+ year high inflation killing pocket books across American and uncontrolled border, which apparently is good news for Democrats, but I wouldn’t do a dance just yet.

    Like

    Reply

    1. “So according to this “good news” he’s a liar…again”

      Your stupidity does not make me a liar. There is a difference between a job and an opportunity. There are far fewer opportunities for young people now than there were when I entered the job market. And by “opportunity” I mean a job with a future which allows someone to plan, to marry, to have children they can support.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. RE: “Your stupidity does not make me a liar.”

        Maybe not, but YOUR stupidity makes you LOOK like a liar.

        In this case, your definition of an “opportunity” is idiotic at best. People have been planning, marrying, having children and supporting them throughout human existence without ever having jobs that you describe as opportunities.

        Like

        Reply

        2. “Maybe not, but YOUR stupidity makes you LOOK like a liar.”

          Nonsense. Maybe you missed it but young Americans are not starting families like in the good old days. They can barely afford cars, let alone homes. They are far less well off than we were at the same age two generations back. That is the fact.

          https://news.yahoo.com/america-looking-down-barrel-population-105514944.html

          I offered a valid response to the question posed. My response was reasonable, polite, factual and not in the least controversial. But that did not stop you two dummies from calling me a liar and stupid.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

          1. You started it by calling Mr. Smith stupid. But — worse — you demonstrated your own stupidity by suggesting that your own family life is the model by which all others should be judged.

            I sometimes wonder why you bother to participate in this forum.

            Like

      2. No, your lying makes you stupid. According to Len all is well on the job front. Jobs equals opportunity if you take it equals what ever future you make of it. There is and never was the Paul utopia.

        Like

        Reply

Leave a comment