http://news.investors.com/print/ibd-editorials/102213-676160-obama-policies-keep-us-economy-stuck-in-neutral.aspx Lackluster Jobs Report Underscores Epic Failure Of Obamanomics
Posted 07:00 PM ET
Jobs: Here we go again, another employment report showing "unexpectedly weak" job growth. Pretty soon Americans are going to figure out, as computer geeks like to say, "It's not a bug — it's a feature."
Across Wall Street, the consensus was 180,000 net new payroll jobs in September. But some investment houses had quietly raised the bar to 200,000, believing the economy had "firmed up" in recent months.
But just like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, only to have Lucy pull it away at the last second, our nation's pre-eminent economic thinkers keep having their predictions dashed on the rocks of Obamanomics.
Indeed, the number of jobs actually created in September — 148,000 — is barely enough to sop up the 130,000 who enter the workforce each month, much less cut into the 11.3 million officially unemployed.
The average, by the way, for the last year is 185,000 jobs a month.
The "good news," we are told, is that the unemployment rate "ticked down" to 7.2% from 7.3%. Well, OK. But no reputable economist we know of would say joblessness north of 7% is even remotely satisfactory four years and three months into a "recovery." But that's where we are.
And remember: Obama promised an unemployment rate of 5% by September of this year if we only passed his "stimulus." We did, and it isn't even close.
For individual groups that form the core Obama's voting constituency, the news is almost entirely bad. As CNSNews noted, 154,000 women lost jobs in September alone, and female participation in the labor force hit a 24-year low.
Young Americans — especially minorities — remain stuck in recession. The jobless rate for 18- to 29-year-olds is 11.2%, but for African-Americans it's a whopping 20.9%.
And the broader measure of unemployment — the U6 data, which include those without jobs, plus those who are "marginally attached" to the workforce and who work part-time but want full-time positions, remains at 13.6%. That's still way above the 10.1% in June 2009, the month the economy supposedly began its recovery.
Former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, quoted by the National Journal, summed the jobs report up as "lackluster, tepid, listless or soft." That about covers it.
For five years now we've heard the same lame excuses for the lack of job growth: Bush's policies. The financial crisis. The global recession. A recalcitrant GOP. The government shutdown.
Never have the mainstream media or the party in control of government accepted what has become President Obama's unique legacy: slow economic and job growth, ever-expanding government and a lack of economic dynamism.
Worst of all, ObamaCare has frightened businesses away from adding employees, so no meaningful recovery is possible. Survey after survey shows an eagerness to lay off workers or slash hours to avoid dealing with ObamaCare's higher costs, taxes and red tape.
In a July Gallup Poll, 41% of small businesses said they were putting off hiring new workers because of the Affordable Care Act, while 38% had halted expansion plans.
Even unions are alarmed at the layoffs of their members and the loss of once-secure jobs. And contrary to the media spin that things are getting better, they're not. Some 90.6 million Americans — an all-time high — are now out of the workforce, up 136,000 in September alone.
No, it's not due to retirement, as some have falsely asserted. It's mostly due to people dropping out in record numbers because there are no jobs to be found. And it's become chronic: During Obama's tenure, nearly 10 million people have left the workforce.
Meanwhile, the civilian employment-to-population ratio has fallen to 58.6%, down from 61% when Obama entered office and close to its 30-year lows.
This is a lot of data to digest, we know, but it all shows how Obamanomics is destroying the working core. Forty-seven percent of Americans now get some kind of government handout, 90 million are no longer actively seeking work and 40 million are on food stamps. The federal government is now $16 trillion in debt, and real median family incomes are on the decline.
In short, we are on the verge of an epic downward shift in American prosperity. It's no accident, no bug in Obama's program. It's a feature.
