Yes, we added 69,000 jobs in the May Employment Report

Last edited Fri Jun 1, 2012, 01:36 PM - Edit history (1)

In an election season there is an impetus to make the real world fit a political narrative, versus fitting a political narrative to the real world.

If the whole nation read DU there might be a practical argument for dispensing with facts for the duration, but DU does not drive the national debate. And if we abandon reality for an election then why would we ever return to reality after the election? There is always a political struggle. There are always public perceptions being formed.

So facts it is.

Today's employment report was very bad. First, 69,000 new jobs versus 150,000 expected. Second, April was revised from 115,000 to 77,000. So the last two months are notably below the roughly 125,000 new jobs per month it takes just to stay in the same place. (To cover the growing population of people being added to the potential workforce.)

Yes, it is 69,000 jobs created, which is better than 69,000 jobs lost. But it is still below the break-even point. It is net-negative. Look at it this way... if every employment report was like this one we would eventually get to 50% unemployment, so that's not what we want from a jobs report.

Unfortunately, there is nothing the Obama administration can do about this right now. Congress is not going to allow any policy that would help the economy.

I have a lot of faith in the Administration's political efforts. They will make the best of what they have to work with.