The government issued the employment report for July this morning. The non-farm economy "created" 162,000 jobs which was less than the expectation of 185,000. The job creation figures for June and May were revised lower as well, although not in a significant way. Despite the stagnant level of job creation, the unemployment rate dropped from 7.6% to 7.4%. This lowered rate, of course, conflicts with the level of job creation, but we have talked about that at length previously. To me, the headline of today's report is that both wages and hours worked fell. Indeed, the average work week is now only 34.4 hours, down 0.1 from last month. Remember, in order for this figure to fall, there have to be significant increases in part time workers. A full work week is still 40 hours in most businesses, with some set at only 37.5 or 35. The average fell from a level below all three of those numbers, so there had to be a big increase in part time work. America got more part time workers getting paid lower wages. That is the growth area in the Obama economy.
The truth is that these figures may well indicate that the impact of Obamacare is spreading. Remember, employers need not provide healthcare for employees who work less than 30 hours per week. Some businesses are revamping their work force to include more people working only part time just so that they can avoid the need to provide health care. This is particularly true in retail and restaurant/hospitality industries, and these were the two biggest gainers in employment last month. In other words, much of the slow growth in jobs was actually not growth at all. Instead, what was happening was the same amount of work getting spread to more part time employees from fewer full time employees all done to avoid the looming impact of Obamacare.
The problem, of course, is that most America families cannot live on the income from a part time job. More and more folks are being thrown into poverty because they cannot get a job that pays enough to support them. It is just another souvenir of Obamacare, a disaster on so many levels.
The truth is that these figures may well indicate that the impact of Obamacare is spreading. Remember, employers need not provide healthcare for employees who work less than 30 hours per week. Some businesses are revamping their work force to include more people working only part time just so that they can avoid the need to provide health care. This is particularly true in retail and restaurant/hospitality industries, and these were the two biggest gainers in employment last month. In other words, much of the slow growth in jobs was actually not growth at all. Instead, what was happening was the same amount of work getting spread to more part time employees from fewer full time employees all done to avoid the looming impact of Obamacare.
The problem, of course, is that most America families cannot live on the income from a part time job. More and more folks are being thrown into poverty because they cannot get a job that pays enough to support them. It is just another souvenir of Obamacare, a disaster on so many levels.
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