Alternative Visions - The Real Jobs Picture & Predictions for 2013 - 04/17/13

Dr. Jack Rasmus gives a bigger picture of the condition of the US jobs market, looking beyond just the U-3 official unemployment rate. Properly calculated, more than 24 million are still jobless in the US, not the official 11.7 million and the true unemployment rate still hovers around the near-depression level of 15%. Other indicators of an extremely weak jobs market  show that low pay and contingent (part time, temp) jobs are replacing higher pay full time jobs, net job creation continues to fall behind population growth, millions of workers have left the labor force and no longer counted as unemployed, the Obama administration’s much touted manufacturing job growth has halted over the past year, and the duration of long term unemployment continues to rise while unemployment benefits are being cut. Dr. Rasmus predicts that the meager 88,000 jobs created last month is a better indicator of what’s to come in the months ahead than the 200,000 monthly job gain average of this past winter.