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Check out this Reuters article on job growth. Don’t worry about reading it, I’ll give you a little summary. Look at the ads littering the site. That is exactly why the media runs articles like this. Catchy headline even got my attention, but being able to read between the lines has given me the advantage that is missing in from most of the public. Biggest job loss in 5 years sure does look bad, and its a sign of the recession. But its really not news unless they present the big picture.
First, February saw the loss of 63,000 jobs. There are 3,077 counties in the US. That means on average every county lost about 20 jobs an February.
Second, where did these job losses come from? Manufacturing. Can we blame this on recession? Manufacturing jobs have been slipping out of the US since we learned where China was and signed NAFTA with out neighbors. Retail. As we are a nation starting to realize we have to pay off our credit cards, its finally time to stop buying crap from Belk and Target. These jobs come and go with the pace of our economy. Retailers overextended themselves to capitalize on our wasteful spending, now they are starting to bring it back. Finally my favorite – Construction. Remember the cheap money analogy? In 2002, money was real cheap and everyone could afford to buy a house. This limited the supply of houses relative to demand and so the construction companies hired more people. In turn, banks started to offer crazy new financing to take advantage of the demand for loans. The real estate industry as a whole became overinflated. So again, we have an industry that overextended themselves and has to pull back.
Third, look at the chart on this BLS site. Look at all the job growth we’ve had since 2003. Does it look like we can afford to lose a few jobs? Now look at 2001 and take in all those huge job losses. Its no coincidence that this happened as the Internet bubble popped. The Internet growth of the 90s created a lot of worthless companies and again, an overinflated industry. See a pattern? No matter what the status of our civilization is, you will always find this pattern.
Forth and final, the article dedicates ONE sentence to the added jobs of the month. Granted, losses beat growth, but I think growth deserves at least a couple of paragraphs.
 By The Weakonomist |
The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. |
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