Unemployment report:

Jobs recovery? Depends on your political party

YT&Twebzine
The unemployment rate remained 5.8 percent in November.
The unemployment rate remained 5.8 percent in November.
As House Speaker John Boehner sees it, things are not looking up, even though the government just released numbers that show employers added more than 300,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate -- 5.8 percent -- remains at its lowest point in years.

     “While it's welcome news that more people found work last month, millions still remain out of work, and middle-class families across the country, including my home state of Ohio, are struggling to get by on wages that haven’t kept pace with rising costs,” said Boehner, R-Ohio, in a statement released by his office.  
     “The president’s response has been more of the same: the same massive regulations, the same rising premiums and the same uncertainty for manufacturers and small businesses. The House has continued to put the people’s priorities first, passing two more bills this week to help families and make it easier for businesses to hire.”
      To put this in perspective, employers added 321,000 jobs in November – much higher than expected. Monthly job increases have averaged 224,000 in recent months. In October, when the rate first dipped to 5.8 percent, employers added 214,000 jobs. 
      But Boehner specifically mentioned anemic wages: Average hourly earnings rose by 9 cents to $24.66 in November, according to the Labor Department. Throughout the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.1 percent over the past 12 months.
      So the question is: If companies benefit from loosened regulations, as Boehner suggests, would employers then raise salaries, or would shareholders and top executives simply enjoy the windfall? To put it simply, will the green stuff trickle down?       
     The release of unemployment numbers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics has become a monthly ritual, a temple dance of rhetoric in which politicians interpret numbers that directly reflect how Americans are faring in a still recovering economy.
     In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, released a statement calling the jobs report “very strong.”
     But the numbers could be stronger, he said, if Congress would “create jobs by investing in building roads, bridges and schools across the country. When it comes to our economy, the first thing Congress should do is do no harm. In six days, the government will shut down if Congress does not pass a funding bill. I’m encouraged by my recent conversations with Republican leaders in the House and Senate, and I hope that the House will soon send us a clean funding bill that keeps the government open.”
     So here is a question for Reid: While building roads, bridges and schools would provide a temporary boost, how would that translate into a stable income for workers?
     Already, many workers are "contractors," going job-to-job, minute-to-minute -- a situation that may work beautifully for executives, but not for their employees. The leading job sector was actually professional and business services, with 86,000 jobs. "Employment continued to trend up in temporary help services," which added 23,000 jobs, the report said.
     In preparation for the holiday season, another cyclical industry created positions, according to the report: Employment in retail trade grew by about 50,000 jobs. 

     Related:

     Employment: Jobless rate lowest in six years

     Jobless rate plunges -- but pay stagnates

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