The media is reporting new jobs created. I don't believe it. I believe that more of the same jobs are split into part-time jobs and divided up among desperate unemployed people willing to work below their means and go further into debt. The more part-time jobs are created, the more the hours dwindle until finally the capitalist system collapses in on itself because nobody will have enough money to buy what the market has to offer.
Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts
Friday, January 04, 2019
More New Jobs Created is Fakenomics
The media is reporting new jobs created. I don't believe it. I believe that more of the same jobs are split into part-time jobs and divided up among desperate unemployed people willing to work below their means and go further into debt. The more part-time jobs are created, the more the hours dwindle until finally the capitalist system collapses in on itself because nobody will have enough money to buy what the market has to offer.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
The Convenient Politically Fuzzy Economics of Government Agencies
Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey page: http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat08.htm
According to Wikipedia, "the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not define full-time employment or part-time employment," However, according to People's World: "On October 24, 1940, the 40 hour work week went into effect under the FLSA. The new law had been signed by President Roosevelt in 1938."
My generation grew up with the assumption that full-time was 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday. At least until 1979 when the war on Unions and deregulation gained momentum. See these articles:
The Number of Salaried Workers Guaranteed Overtime Pay Has Plummeted Since 1979
The expanding role of temporary help services from 1990 to 2008, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Tian Luo, Amar Mann, and Richard Holden; August 2010
There Are A Lot Of Part-Time Workers In Post-Financial Crisis America, Business Insider, Doug Shourt, Advisor Perspectives; November 10, 2014 -- http://www.businessinsider.com/ratio-of-part-time-employed-remains-substantially-higher-than-the-pre-recession-level-2014-11
Why The 40-Hour Workweek Is Dying, Forbes, Jayson DeMers; May 15, 2015 -- http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2015/05/15/why-the-40-hour-workweek-is-dying/
The Full-Time Job Is Dead, BackChannel, Kevin Maney; June 4, 2015 -- https://medium.com/backchannel/the-full-time-job-is-dead-b9528bda1c87
Friday, January 10, 2014
Minimum Wage increase and population growth
The Associated Press (AP) reported "Lower-paying industries led 2013 US job gains" but at what cost? The "Supply-siders" use these numbers to argue against increasing the minimum wage because "higher labor costs will force employers to lay-off employees."
People who make claims like this are thinking like accountants instead of economists because they don't look beyond the payroll to the local community where an increase in the flow of money to businesses could increase by at least twice what is currently being spent. With increased wages comes more customers. The demand will require additional employees and businesses.
My next question is this: If there is a sudden surge in the economy from a wage increase, will the unemployment rate shrink, stay the same or get worse because people will think it's safe to have more children again?
Population numbers might interfere. It's far easier to increase the size of a population than it is to reduce it, at least during peace time. The consequences of the post-second world war baby boom are still being felt, mitigated only by the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal just a decade after president Linden Johnson proposed a War on Poverty.
I was conceived irresponsibly a few short months before LBJ proposed his war on poverty in his January 8, 1964 State of the Union Address. I was given up for adoption. This about a decade shy of the Roe V. Wade decision. If I had been conceived after Roe, I might not exist at all.
Unless something is done to stave off the next population explosion that will follow a minimum wage increase, we will end up in the same situation. Hopefully the Affordable Care Act will give everyone who needs it, access to birth control since they don't seem to have much self-control.
People who make claims like this are thinking like accountants instead of economists because they don't look beyond the payroll to the local community where an increase in the flow of money to businesses could increase by at least twice what is currently being spent. With increased wages comes more customers. The demand will require additional employees and businesses.
My next question is this: If there is a sudden surge in the economy from a wage increase, will the unemployment rate shrink, stay the same or get worse because people will think it's safe to have more children again?
Population numbers might interfere. It's far easier to increase the size of a population than it is to reduce it, at least during peace time. The consequences of the post-second world war baby boom are still being felt, mitigated only by the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal just a decade after president Linden Johnson proposed a War on Poverty.
I was conceived irresponsibly a few short months before LBJ proposed his war on poverty in his January 8, 1964 State of the Union Address. I was given up for adoption. This about a decade shy of the Roe V. Wade decision. If I had been conceived after Roe, I might not exist at all.
Unless something is done to stave off the next population explosion that will follow a minimum wage increase, we will end up in the same situation. Hopefully the Affordable Care Act will give everyone who needs it, access to birth control since they don't seem to have much self-control.
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