June American Employment Figures

Daunting American Employment Numbers
On July 6, Investors Business Daily (IBD) ran an editorial criticizing the latest labor and unemployment report. The editorial called the employment environment "abysmal."
IBD said the real numbers for the economy show it to be shaky and troubled:

• The unemployment rate stayed at 7.6%

• The total number employed, 135.9 million, is 1.6% below the figure from 5 ½ years ago

• All the new jobs in June were part-time. 360,000 part-time positions were created while full-time employment shrank by 240,000

• Year-to-date, 130,000 full-time jobs were added and 557,000 part-time jobs were added

• The underemployment rate (people overqualified for their jobs or working part-time when they want full-time jobs) increased from 13.8% to 14.3% in June

• An outside report from McKinsey & Co. shows that 45% of college graduates have a job which doesn’t require a degree

• The unemployment rate for 18-to-29 year olds is 16.1% with 1.7 million having dropped out of the labor force entirely

　
Investors Business Daily offers the following factors to explain the labor malaise:

• Five years of government "stimulus" from the Obama administration

• "Quantitative easing" by the Federal Reserve

• Thousands of pages of new regulations

• Higher taxes on entrepreneurs

• An administration that profoundly dislikes healthy free markets

• ObamaCare and its costly regulations encourages employers to hire only part-time employees (who receive minimal benefits and no health care)

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2013/07/06/a_solid_jobs_report_no_this_is_a_crisis.html