The president cited a drop in the unemployment rate for December as evidence of an improving economy but, unfortunately, many economists don’t see it that way.
The Labor Department reported that the economy added 103,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate declined from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent. And for all of 2010, the report said, employers added 1.3 million jobs.
The president saw the improved number as the result of an growing economy, and renewed optimism. “We saw 12 straight months of private sector job growth, the first time that’s been true since 2006,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday.
But as the economy is adding jobs, it is losing workers ”“ the long-term unemployed who are no longer counted as part of the labor force. This mismatch may make it appear as if the labor market is strengthening, but those who keep close track of the numbers say the current job growth is just enough to keep up with population growth. It’s nowhere near enough to regain ground lost during the recession.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the labor force is smaller today than it was at the start of the recession. The worker-oriented think tank said the economy will have to add 300,000 jobs every month for years to fully regain jobs lost during the recession.
The personal toll is incalculable, but one day we will have a better picture of the damage this recession has had on personal finances and the overall economy.
Though the president’s optimism about jobs may be hard to sustain, his goal is one all can agree with. It is “to accelerate hiring and growth, while we do the things we know are necessary to insure America’s leadership in an increasingly competitive world and build an economy that will provide opportunity to any American willing to work for it.”
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Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Nick Cowenhoven at nickc@journaltribune.com.
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