|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 The Full-Time Scandal of Part-Time America
Fewer than half of U.S. adults are working full time. Why? Slow growth and
the perverse incentives of ObamaCare.
By Mortimer Zuckerman
July 13, 2014 6:47 p.m. ET
There has been a distinctive odor of hype lately about the national jobs
report for June. Most people will have the impression that the 288,000 jobs
created last month were full-time. Not so.
The Obama administration and much of the media trumpeting the figure
overlooked that the government numbers didn't distinguish between new part-
time and full-time jobs. Full-time jobs last month plunged by 523,000,
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What has increased are part-
time jobs. They soared by about 800,000 to more than 28 million. Just think
of all those Americans working part time, no doubt glad to have the work but
also contending with lower pay, diminished benefits and little job security.
On July 2 President Obama boasted that the jobs report "showed the sixth
straight month of job growth" in the private economy. "Make no mistake," he
said. "We are headed in the right direction." What he failed to mention is
that only 47.7% of adults in the U.S. are working full time. Yes, the
percentage of unemployed has fallen, but that's worth barely a Bronx cheer.
It reflects the bleak fact that 2.4 million Americans have become
discouraged and dropped out of the workforce. You might as well say that the
unemployment rate would be zero if everyone quit looking for work.
Last month involuntary part-timers swelled to 7.5 million, compared with 4.4
million in 2007. Way too many adults now depend on the low-wage, part-time
jobs that teenagers would normally fill. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen
had it right in March when she said: "The existence of such a large pool of
partly unemployed workers is a sign that labor conditions are worse than
indicated by the unemployment rate."
There are a number of reasons for our predicament, most importantly a
historically low growth rate for an economic "recovery." Gross domestic
product growth in 2013 was a feeble 1.9%, and it fell at a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 2.9% in the first quarter of 2014.
But there is one clear political contribution to the dismal jobs trend. Many
employers cut workers' hours to avoid the Affordable Care Act's mandate to
provide health insurance to anyone working 30 hours a week or more. The
unintended consequence of President Obama's "signature legislation"? Fewer
full-time workers. In many cases two people are working the same number of
hours that one had previously worked.
Since mid-2007 the U.S. population has grown by 17.2 million, according to
the Census Bureau, but we have 374,000 fewer jobs since a November 2007 peak
and are 10 million jobs shy of where we should be. It is particularly
upsetting that our current high unemployment is concentrated in the oldest
and youngest workers. Older workers have been phased out as new technologies
improve productivity, and young adults who lack skills are struggling to
find entry-level jobs with advancement opportunities. In the process, they
are losing critical time to develop workplace habits, contacts and new
skills.
Most Americans wouldn't call this an economic recovery. Yes, we're not
technically in a recession as the recovery began in mid-2009, but high-wage
industries have lost a million positions since 2007. Low-paying jobs are
gaining and now account for 44% of all employment growth since employment
hit bottom in February 2010, with by far the most growth—3.8 million jobs—
in low-wage industries. The number of long-term unemployed remains at
historically high levels, standing at more than three million in June. The
proportion of Americans in the labor force is at a 36-year low, 62.8%, down
from 66% in 2008.
Part-time jobs are no longer the domain of the young. Many are taken by
adults in their prime working years—25 to 54 years of age—and many are
single men and women without high-school diplomas. Why is this happening? It
can't all be attributed to the unforeseen consequences of the Affordable
Care Act. The longer workers have been out of a job, the more likely they
are to take a part-time job to make ends meet.
The result: Faith in the American dream is eroding fast. The feeling is that
the rules aren't fair and the system has been rigged in favor of business
and against the average person. The share of financial compensation and
outputs going to labor has dropped to less than 60% today from about 65%
before 1980.
Why haven't increases in labor productivity translated into higher household
income in private employment? In part because of very low rates of capital
spending on new plant and equipment over the past five years. In the 1960s,
only one in 20 American men between the ages of 25 and 54 was not working.
According to former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, in 10 years that
number will be one in seven.
The lack of breadwinners working full time is a burgeoning disaster. There
are 48 million people in the U.S. in low-wage jobs. Those workers won't be
able to spend what is necessary in an economy that is mostly based on
consumer spending, and this will put further pressure on growth. What we
have is a very high unemployment rate, a slow recovery and across-the-board
wage stagnation (except for the top few percent). According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, almost 91 million people over age 16 aren't working, a
record high. When Barack Obama became president, that figure was nearly 10
million lower.
The great American job machine is spluttering. We are going through the
weakest post-recession recovery the U.S. has ever experienced, with growth
half of what it was after four previous recessions. And that's despite the
most expansive monetary policy in history and the largest fiscal stimulus
since World War II.
That is why the June numbers are so distressing. Five years after the Great
Recession, more than 24 million working-age Americans remain jobless,
working part-time involuntarily or having left the workforce. We are not in
the middle of a recovery. We are in the middle of a muddle-through, and
there's no point in pretending that the sky is blue when so many millions
can attest to dark clouds.
Mr. Zuckerman is chairman and editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report. | m********8
发帖数: 7463 | 2 你们都是先对伯理玺天德有了偏见之后有了预设立场然后再找问题，然后硬算到他头上。
其实现在美国很多人已经发财了，而且财产都投资到了中国，所以不工作或者兼职工作
就好了，不必全职了。
现在失业比较高，主要是美国民众很多选择进入研究所，研读MBA或者其他法律医学方
面的学位。还可以借巨量贷款不必归还。既然机会如此众多何必去继续做无聊的工作？
还有一些人选择退休。
最主要原因还有最低工资太低了。连多方折中的15元低薪都不能快速通过。所以民众就
选择不找工作了
这些都不是伯理玺天德的错。都是共和党的错。 | s********7
发帖数: 1280 | 3 是的 有些美国人民都吃上肉糜了， 你们还在纠结他们没面包呢， 是这意思吧？哈哈
上。
【在 m********8 的大作中提到】
: 你们都是先对伯理玺天德有了偏见之后有了预设立场然后再找问题，然后硬算到他头上。
: 其实现在美国很多人已经发财了，而且财产都投资到了中国，所以不工作或者兼职工作
: 就好了，不必全职了。
: 现在失业比较高，主要是美国民众很多选择进入研究所，研读MBA或者其他法律医学方
: 面的学位。还可以借巨量贷款不必归还。既然机会如此众多何必去继续做无聊的工作？
: 还有一些人选择退休。
: 最主要原因还有最低工资太低了。连多方折中的15元低薪都不能快速通过。所以民众就
: 选择不找工作了
: 这些都不是伯理玺天德的错。都是共和党的错。
| m********8
发帖数: 7463 | 4 显然啊。如此太平盛世，万丈繁华，
穷苦人民也是粥厂遍布，衣食无忧，别说肉糜，龙虾都可以偶耳吃几只
狠多地富反坏右分子拿失业率来做文章，目的就是要讽刺朝政而已
【在 s********7 的大作中提到】
: 是的 有些美国人民都吃上肉糜了， 你们还在纠结他们没面包呢， 是这意思吧？哈哈
:
: 上。
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
