"While it has taken a long time, and extraordinary monetary policy actions, the U.S. economy is now close to full employment..."
Stanley Fischer, Vice Chairman Federal Reserve, Monetary Policy In the US and Developing Countries, 30 June 2015
While officialdom celebrates the unemployment rate falling to 5.3%, even a cursory look at the numbers today tells the real story for those who would look at them.
Wage growth in the latest month was 0.0%. That is consistent with a long trend of wage stagnation.
Non-Farm payrolls came in light, and the prior month was revised sharply lower from 280,000 to 254,000. But it made for a good cheery headline last month.
For a more contemporary number, new unemployment claims rose to 281,000 and continuing unemployment claims rose to 2,264,000.
The reason that the unemployment percentage is falling is that as more unemployed workers fall off the roles of unemployment compensation the government stops counting them as ready to work.
People become discouraged by the bleak prospects of finding gainful employment, and they even fall further into the 'off the books' economy that is a portion of the decay caused by policy errors of fiscal blockheadedness and monetary largesse for the one percent.
And the sign of economic vigor and the breadth of economic recovery, the labor participation rate has fallen to a 37 year low.
And the spokesperson comes down from the big house and assures us that the President is thinking about what to do about this terrible situation every day. He has certainly been mulling this over for a long time. And in fairness, most of the Congress could care less about what happens to anyone who does not have a lackey sitting in their waiting room without a sack full of 'campaign donations' and honorariums. Oh they may talk a good game, but at the end of the day, they are getting paid.
We are now in the seventh year of The Recovery™.
I know, let's shove a corporatist trade agreement, trading jobs for corporate profits, down the nation's throat over the people's strong objections, and call it a jobs creator in true Orwellian fashion, while transforming the US into a nation of insecure, underpaid servants.
Oh, well done.
