I’d like to say that unemployment went up because more people are looking for work, and I can. Based on the BLS web site the National work force participation–people actively looking for work, was up…about 100,000. That’s not quite enough to account for a 2/10ths shift from 9.6 to 9.8%.
We lost 390,000 jobs last month. The number of marginally attached workers increased to 2.5 million, up from 2.3 million a year ago. The number of discouraged workers is up 421,000 from last year to 1.3 million.
Everything else is in a statistical stagnation which mates rather nicely with the stagnation among democrats who insist that the stimulus worked. If "created pointless debt" is the definition of ‘worked’ I’d agree. Then we have dozens of partisan bills, rammed through by the left, all trumpeted as job creators, and yet 12 months later, we have almost half a million more people who have given up looking for a job.
And of course there is Obamacare, which was also going to create jobs, just like all the other spending and debt. Nope. Not happening.
But then these are the same people who believe that unemployment checks grow the economy.
We can’t do much about it yet. And the new congress can only stop the bleeding. They can only try keep the democrats from spending more, taxing more, or making things worse. And that’s what they were elected to do.
And while they can propose policies that are different from what we’ve seen in the past few years, we will probably have to watch as the Senate or Obama shoots them down, one after the other. A process that will lead us into the 2012 elections.
For people seeking jobs now that’s not a happy tale to tell. But there is some good news. Plenty of states have switched their legislatures to pro-grow politicians. New Hampshire has an excellent opportunity to use its historical advantage to become even more appealing. By attracting more business, you attract more jobs allowing people to earn the kind of incomes that make all those stupid job killing government handouts the liberals love less necessary.
Most people just want to take care of themselves and their families. Give them a job and they’ll do it.
