And now for the bad news.
As is customary in the post-pandemic reality, a quick look under the proverbial hood of the ostensibly “good” August jobs report reveals some disconcerting numbers.
The rush to find the “bad stuff” (as it were) has turned into something of a parlor game for financial netizens congregating on social media. To the extent that’s a genuine attempt at ensuring the tragedy of the crisis isn’t lost on everyone, it’s admirable.
And yet, there’s something sadly ironic about hundreds of gainfully employed news anchors and buy-siders racing to document the ongoing struggles of the beleaguered proletariat on jobs day — it feels unnervingly like an effort to publicize the pain for some kind of gain.
I suppose I can’t have it both ways. I’ve insisted we don’t lose track of the accumulated damage and suffering, and my pretensions to virtue don’t confer upon me a monopoly when it comes to covering Main Street’s trials and tribulations.
In any case, there’s plenty of pain to publicize, that’s for sure. Most notably, the number of permanent job losers surged in August, after remaining largely flat in July.
That’s a proxy for structural damage — it’s the dreaded “scarring” effect.
Not surprisingly, the pain remains particularly acute for African Americans. Although the African American unemployment rate dropped to 13%, the gap with the white unemployment rate moved up again.
August marks the fourth month in a row the divide has widened. In other words, it’s widened every month post- the pandemic shock.
The share of the jobless on temporary layoff dove nearly 10 percentage points MoM. In August, Goldman noted that the more than 9 million Americans still on “temporary” layoff left the labor market “poised for additional large job gains later this year”.
The flip side, Goldman cautioned, is that around a quarter of those classified as “temporary” will end up becoming permanent job losers.
Notably, the percentage of those unemployed for 15-26 weeks jumped from 39% to nearly 50% in August, underscoring the enduring nature of the crisis.
That said, the number of Americans unemployed for 15 weeks or more logged just a modest rise, compared to July’s surge.
Still, the gain on that latter metric took us a step closer to the record set during the GFC.
Invariably, there are any number of additional dour data points one can extract from the August jobs report.
But the above is sufficient when it comes to emphasizing that Main Street is not “easy street”, so to speak. And it’s not Wall Street either.
Structural damage is one thing and sounds so removed from peoples actual existence. Our current Governments overt single-mindedness in predicating all decisions based on a political structural stability has deepened the damage to the Economic structure that is deepening poverty. You have made your views clear and they are admirable.
I will always maintain that POTUS missed the moment March 11. He could have had a V-shaped recovery and a cakewalk to re-election.
Any administrator with a Macro view ,some wisdom or a warrior gene would have seized the moment. Instead we had tunnel-vision, a byproduct of fear. Not the makings of Commander and Chief.
Well said.
” Not the makings of Commander and Chief”
He is what he is…
I am surprised you are also not railing against Cuomo. New York has the second highest unemployment rate (after Massachusetts). See no’s July statistics at https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm
I was referring to the American Empire not the Empire State.
Secondly, I am observing not railing. Governor or Commander and Chief are different job titles.
Joesailboat, you are correct all he had to do is to follow his advisers who were recommending that we mirror what Europe was doing. He blew it badly and never wanted to catch up. His overriding concern was to pin it on the Democrats but he now has a tail permanently attached.
he is a “defective” human being, he has demonstrated his human incapabilities and incapacity time and time again since the 2016 primary process, and very likely beyond… It is terrifying that he holds the current position that he does, while also having a 50/50 chance to remain in office after this election. Says just as much about the world around him as it does the individual, … also quite frightening.
My other label for him is a “narcicistic sociopath,”… btw..
And we all sit here watching …day after day…wondering how the hell is this nightmare allowed to keep happening. it’s like the Ground Hog movie with Bill Murray. We all just keep waking up in the morning and Captain Bone spur and his gang of miscreants are still in charge. I guess we have Moscow Mitch to blame for that.