It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Jobless
Only 210,000 jobs were filled in November, not even reaching half of the number anticipated.
The latest jobs report felt like a cold November rain, as just 210,000 jobs were reportedly added last month, not even broaching half of the anticipated 550,000. As a result, November marks the lowest headline jobs number of 2021, just in time for Christmas. The only seemingly positive news was a drop in the unemployment rate, which is now down to 4.2%. Of course, with 10 million unfilled job openings available, and more than four million fewer workers than in February 2020, one wonders how many Americans have simply stopped looking for work.
If unemployment is at 4.2% and yet businesses small and large nationwide are struggling to get back to an employment level they were at 18 months ago when unemployment was slightly higher, how is it that unemployment is it 4.2%? What now is the incentive making it easy for people to not return to work?
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded to Friday’s dismal report by attempting a Jedi mind trick. “What I will say,” she began, “is people can expect the president to continue to say, today, month to month, is that what we’re seeing are good trends, that we are continuing to put people back to work, that we are continuing to see participation in the workforce, that we are continuing to see the unemployment rate go down, but there’s more we need to do to address core problems that have existed long before the pandemic.” Translation: It’s Donald Trump’s fault.
While there’s no doubt that the pandemic has been the primary culprit thanks to economic lockdowns and continued COVID-related restrictions — especially so in Democrat-run states and because of Joe Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate — Psaki’s suggestion of “core problems” having “existed long before the pandemic” simply doesn’t bear out when looking at the record employment numbers the country was experiencing under Trump’s leadership.
In fact, the data (and Biden’s abysmal polling numbers) reveal that nearly everything economically speaking has been worse under his leadership. Indeed, Biden implementing the socialist policies desired by the radical Left of his party’s base is the primary problem that has led to rising inflation, the supply-chain crisis, and a higher cost of living that is negatively impacting working Americans. The cost of consumer goods rose by 6.2% in October, the highest price jump in over 30 years. The average price of products is now 8.6% higher than at this time last year.
Biden and a majority of congressional Democrats are seemingly doing everything in their power to make matters even worse with their erroneously named “Build Back Better” socialist spending bill. It’s a boondoggle that the Congressional Budget Office estimates will add some $367 billion to the deficit over the next decade. How exactly will that reverse jumping inflation? Well, the simple answer is, it won’t.
Despite the Biden administration’s spinning of the data, these surprisingly low jobs numbers are yet more evidence that the Democrats should be earning only the ire and distrust of the American people. Less from Washington’s elites would translate to more for American taxpayers.