Labor & Employment Law

More Jobs Lost in Sept., as Corporations Hoard Cash, Refuse to Hire

By Tula Connell

Some 95,000 jobs were lost in September, fueled by a loss of government employment, which declined by 159,000 jobs and minimal hiring in the private sector, which added 64,000 jobs. The new jobs data released by the Labor Department today also show the nation’s September’s unemployment rate remained at unchanged from August at 9.6 percent. Public-sector job losses include 83,000 lost at the state and local level, of which 58,000 were in education.

The 64,000 new jobs is about half of what is required to absorb new labor force entrants. To lower the unemployment rate to 6 percent by 2013, the economy needs to add  350,000 jobs a month.

The number of workers who are underemployed, which includes those who are too discouraged to look for work or are working part-time out of economic necessity, worsened to 17.1 percent from 16.7 percent in August. More than 26 million U.S. workers are without jobs or full-time work.

One unemployed worker who spent 35 years in the construction trades, has this to say:

I’m 53 years old, and I’ve been kicked to the curb with no job, no insurance and now no home and no unemployment left. And yet I still believe in this country’s democracy. I hope and pray that someday this will all end, and we can wake up from this nightmare. Hopefully Congress can get off their butts and do something for the great people of the United States.

This statement, which was read at the Machinists (IAM) rally for unemployed workers (see video) as part of Saturday’s One Nation events, speaks for millions of America’s workers. Those who, as one speaker said, have done all the right things but in a short time span, have gone from middle class to near homelessness.

Because it’s not your fault you don’t have a job when jobs don’t exist: The ratio of unemployed workers to job openings was 4.6-to-1 in August, unchanged from July. Yet corporations are sitting on hoards of cash, refusing to hire: Nonfinancial companies held $1.845 trillion in cash and short-term assets at the end of the second quarter, according to the Federal Reserve.

Yet even the nation’s jobless numbers for underemployed workers show only a partial picture. The number of long-term unemployed workers, those jobless for six months or more stands at  6.1 million, while the number of long-term jobless receiving unemployment benefits has risen more than 60 percent in just the past year. Some 28 percent of all U.S. households have at least one member that is looking for a full-time job.

Last month, more than 300 economists signed a statement calling for immediate job creation and said lawmakers must hold off on tightening spending until the recovery is further along and unemployment has come down. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) says unemployment should be at 6 percent for six straight months before spending cuts take place.

Economists like Marty Feldstein at Harvard University and Jan Hatzius from Goldman Sachs say that unless action is taken to address the jobs crisis, there will be no significant reduction of unemployment through 2012 and that it will take years before unemployment returns to pre-crisis levels. The AFL-CIO union movement has long been calling for a public investment-led recovery focused on education and infrastructure to accelerate growth and create jobs in the short-term, with long-term strategy involving private investment to strengthen the U.S. economy and make it more competitive.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today’s jobs report shows:

our nation is desperate for more aggressive action to tackle the ongoing jobs crisis. Republicans in Congress have remained steadfast in their obstruction to any and all job creation proposals.

The results are clear?last month we lost 159,000 public sector jobs, while the private sector created only 64,000 new jobs. This is simply unacceptable.

Here’s the question for most Republicans in Congress, who have repeatedly blocked job creation bills and relief for long-term jobless workers: How bad does it have to get here before you stop signing platitudinous Pledges and take action to help America’s workers?

A recent article, “15 Shocking Facts Show that the Middle Class is Being Wiped Out,” in short order describes the extent of the nation’s economic crisis. Here are a few:

#1 Approximately 45 million Americans were living in poverty in 2009.

#6 As of June, the number of Americans on food stamps had set a new all-time record for 19 consecutive months.

#7 One out of every six Americans is now being served by at least one government anti-poverty program.

#9 One out of every seven mortgages in the United States was either delinquent or in foreclosure during the first quarter of 2010.

#13 Nationwide, bankruptcy filings rose 20 percent in the 12 month period ending June 30th.

#15 One out of every five children in the United States is now living in poverty.

The solution offered by some Republican candidates? Cut the minimum wage.

Because America’s workers just aren’t suffering enough. 

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on October 08, 2010 (boomark / email).