Monday, April 4, 2011
A Long, Slow Slog Back to Normal
This article discusses the data given that was last updated from March 2011, showing the added jobs each month in the US economy. The data showed that 216,000 jobs were added in March, which was good to see, however the author explained that this is not the pace of growth needed to get the country back to full employment soon. If the growth continues as it had in March, the US will not be back to full employment until January 2014, three years from now. However Rampell also displayed a graph that showed where the growth would be if the average growth per month was 472,000 jobs per month, and that if this was so, the country would be back to full employment by July 2012. This is unlikely, and it looks that it will be close to three years until we are back to full employment.
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5 comments:
Although it is scary that jobs are not being created as quickly as the country needs or wants, I still find this news encouraging. Any news that jobs are being created increases consumer confidence and instills some sort of hope for the future. The recession has been a bleak time for many, and though it would be ideal to recover immediately, that is simply not feasible. Some industries have changed and people are more cautious than before.
I agree and think the author is creating a bit of a pessimistic point of view toward job growth. It is unfortunate that this alternate scenario (with the dotted green line in his graph), will not be achieved, but this scenario is taking the job growth from the best month of the 2000s. While job growth is not as much as desired, at least it is finally taking place after the stimulus and extension of the Bush tax cuts. If job growth had not been occurring after the many attempts to push for higher employment, then the U.S. would be facing a very grim future.
It is also important to point out that job creation is not the only aspect that fights unemployment. The high number of baby boomer retirements that will continue to happen throughout the next ten years will create more demand for labor.
I think, like Diego said, people to realize that there are many factors that can decrease the unemployment rate and increase the number of jobs. The government can cut taxes, increase government spending, put more money in the system therefore consumer confidence will rise, and increase supply of goods and services which will require more workers and in turn increase employment. The expectation of three years is a long time till our economy will supposedly be back on track. However the hope and belief that our economy will grow and is currently providing more jobs every month is already giving citizens so much promise for the future.
I agree with Diego's point. The high number of baby boomer retirement will continue to create new jobs for the labor market. Besides, the federal trust fund is running low, U.S needs more people to work to pay for the baby boomers' social security. The market will get even better then.
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