Jobs, Jobs, jobs
If president Barack Obama has any thoughts of becoming a two-term president, he has got to create jobs. The jobs numbers for June were not abysmal but they weren't good either. I talk with Dr. Heidi Shierholz from the Economic Policy Institute. She is a Masters and Ph.D. in economics.
The American economy has now lost 6.5 million jobs since the start of this recession. Last month we lost 467,000 jobs. During the first quarter of this year we lost an average of 691,000 jobs per month. So the jobs market may be improving. I mean were losing jobs at a slower rate. This is of little comfort to those were losing jobs.
Most of the job losses are being suffered in those areas of the economy that are cyclical -- construction and manufacturing. Unfortunately, men tend to gravitate to these types of jobs. Men have been particularly hurt by this economic downturn. The unemployment rate for all men is 10.6%. For women it is 8.3%. The unemployment rate in the Black community is 14.7%, the Hispanic community - 12.2% and the white community - 8.7%.
We heard lots of happy talk last month when the economy lost only 345,000 jobs in May (I still find it weird to say that we lost ONLY 345,000 jobs). The New York Times quoted chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group, Stuart Hoffman as saying, "The freefall in the job market does appear to be tapering off. If the prelude to an economic and job recovery later this year."
We, as progressives, must watch this new climate change Bill. It has to have plenty of money for green jobs. This has to act as a second stimulus, in my opinion. Dr. Shierholz mentions that this economic downturn is far from over. We will begin to see increases in our GDP and in the stock market before will see significant job creation. Significant job creation may not be until the third quarter of next year.
In spite of the depressing news, this is an excellent interview on the economy. Enjoy.
The Errington Thompson show airs every Saturday morning at 9 a.m. (EST). Live streaming. Podcasts can be heard on iTunes and here.
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[...] creating jobs. This wasn’t going to happen in a day or a month. It hasn’t. I was talking with an expert at the Economic Policy Institute, Heidi Shierholz, about 4 months ago. She was talking about [...]