The recent good news about job creation obscures the bad
news facing the nation's middle class.
At last, some
excellent economic news for folks long-mired in the stagnant labor market.
“Jobs Spring Back,”
exclaimed a typical headline on recent reports that 165,000 private-sector jobs
were added in April. Wow — the thunderous, three-year boom of prosperity that
has rained riches on Wall Street is finally beginning to shower on our streets,
right?
Well, as dry-land
farmers can tell you: Thunder ain’t rain. Read beneath the joyful headlines and
you’ll see the parched truth.
For example, more than a third of working-age Americans are either out of
work or have given up on finding a job. Also, last month’s hiring increase was
almost entirely for receptionists, waiters, temp workers, car-rental agents,
and other low-wage positions. Plus, manufacturing, generally the source of good, middle-class
jobs, didn’t add workers in April, when the unemployment rate inched back to
7.5 percent.
Especially problematic
was the continued rise in underemployment — people wanting full-time work, but
having to take part-time and temporary jobs. Underemployment is also pounding
college graduates. While they’ve been more successful than non-grads at landing
jobs, they’re not getting jobs that fit their career goals or even require the
degrees they spent money and time to obtain.
Indeed, many of those
rental agents and restaurant employees you encounter hold four-year degrees,
forcing everyone else to scramble for the few, even lower-paid jobs farther
down the skill ladder.
Meanwhile, the next graduating class is about to flood into the labor market with nowhere to go.
Meanwhile, the next graduating class is about to flood into the labor market with nowhere to go.
America’s middle class
is in a crisis, while our pathetic political leaders pretend Wall Street’s
prosperity covers us all — and the corporate media puts little happy-face
stickers over the dark reality faced by the workaday majority.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and
public speaker. He's also editor of the populist newsletter, The
Hightower Lowdown. OtherWords.org