176,000 Private Sector Jobs Created in June, but 96K Public Sector Cuts drop it to Just 80K. ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME???
July 6, 2012

 
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When the culprit blames the victimBREAKING NEWS

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the monthly jobs report for June today, announcing that “the economy created only 80,000 jobs last month”, leaving the jobless rate unchanged at 8.2%. Naturally, as you might expect, Governor Romney is making hay over this lack-luster report, pointing to it as just more proof that President Obama’s economic policies are a failure. But the truth is, the PRIVATE SECTOR CREATED 176,000 NEW JOBS LAST MONTH… 50% more than the number of jobs necessary just to keep up with population growth. That’s pretty damn good, and a sign of a strengthening economy. But THE PUBLIC SECTOR SLASHED (unconfirmed) 96,000 JOBS… CUTTING THE NET TOTAL BY MORE THAN HALF (54%). ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME???

For those of you new to “Mugsy’s Rap Sheet”, I’ve spent much of the last few months railing against “Public Sector layoffs” hampering the recovery. Starting last March I noted that The Reagan Administration stemmed the steady rise in unemployment (peaking at 10.8% at the end of his SECOND year) by freezing Public Sector layoffs in his third year, helping bring unemployment down to just 7.2% in time for the November election. The Reagan Administration then went on a Public Sector hiring binge, bringing the National rate down to just 5.3% by the time he left office in 1989.

Unfortunately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not yet have the state-by-state figures showing WHERE these public sector layoffs are taking place, but rest assured I will report on it as soon as they become available (currently [July], only “estimates” for May are available). I would be immensely interested in seeing if the Obama Administration is continuing to slit its own throat by laying off government workers in the lead-up to the election.

Had the Federal, State & Local governments of not laid off 96 THOUSAND public sector workers, the unemployment rate might have fallen by AT LEAST a tenth of a point to 8.1% (possibly more, except that positive job reports attract the long-term unemployed back into the market, pushing the numbers in the opposite direction.) And as previously reported, if it were not for the more than 701,000 public sector job cuts since January of 2009, unemployment would actually be closer to 7.1% (and arguably even lower, as fewer unemployed spurs additional job growth/creation).

THIS ECONOMY IS GROWING. BIG TIME. President Obama’s economic policies ARE working, but it’s this infuriating Republican demand for “Austerity” and obsession with the Deficit (that didn’t bother them when President Bush increased the Deficit from $18-Billion to just over $1-TRILLION in eight years) that is crippling our recovery. The fact that the unemployment rate isn’t rising in the wake of all these public sector layoffs, is a testament to the strength of our economy.

And President Obama: The economy is your Achilles Heel in this election. You had BETTER start calling out these government layoffs for dragging down the Recovery if you want to win reelection.

ADDENDUM: In a speech today, President Obama put the “total” number of jobs created at 84,000. Adjusting accordingly, that would put the number of Public Sector losses at “92,000”.

POSTSCRIPT: I am continuing the hunt for “the 92,000 missing jobs”. The same columnist that reported the “176,000 private sector jobs” figure Thursday did account for “28,200” of those public sector job losses on Friday:

[T]he federal government cut 7,000 jobs in June. The Postal Service shed 6,200 jobs. State governments lost nearly 1,000, and 14,000 teachers lost their jobs (not counting summer vacation).

A report by ThinkProgress supports the idea that a substantial number of those public sector job losses were among teachers, noting “130,000 teaching jobs” were lost “in the last 12 months alone”.

I will continue to investigate the remaining 63,800 jobs and follow-up in a report as soon as those figures become available.
 


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July 6, 2012 · Admin Mugsy · 5 Comments - Add
Posted in: Economy, Jobs, Politics, Rants

5 Responses

  1. Grant in Texas - July 6, 2012

    I’ve been watching MSNBC all morning and it wasn’t until Jared Bernstein (economist to VP Joe Biden) was guest on “The Cycle” this afternoon that I first heard about the figure of the 96,000 being laid off in the PUBLIC sector.  Until then the many talking heads over cable news were only shaking heads, lamenting the doom and gloom 80,000 number.  I would bet you that the layoffs are in Republican-run states to possibly help Obama look bad.   Speaking of MSNBC/NBC notice that often there are as many shrill talking heads from the right, even outnumbering voices arguing for the left.  Sometimes it’s like watching Fox News!  Who says MSNBC is the “liberal” network starting out with Joe Scarborough in the morning and now S. E. Cupp as co-host of “The Cycle”.  On Jansing & Company, today, it was 2-1 anti-Obama guests with Mort Zuckerman of US News/NY Daily News coming down very hard on “failed” Obama policies which he says have scared the business community from investing/hiring new employees.  Zuckerman said Obamacare alone has cost us TWO million jobs due to the insecurities present among employers.  Of course the neocon Zionist Zuckerman has been talking this way for months now:http://www.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2012/04/20/mort-zuckerman-president-obamas-economic-programs-have-failed  Zuckerman, now a registered Independent, once considered running as a Republican or Independent in New York to oppose Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.  He has been expressing his “disappointment” in Obama for some time now:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204002304576628673446417268.htmlhttp://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/why-is-mort-zuckerman-so-hot-about-obama.html

  2. Grant in Texas - July 6, 2012

    The last two links above posted as run-on and need to be separated at the htm lhttp juncture.

  3. Mugsy - July 6, 2012

    I’m still trying to confirm that “96,000” figure. It’s helpful to know Bernstein is repeating it as well because it is so huge I had significant doubts I wasn’t missing some vital information. Note that “196,000 Public sector jobs” were lost in the first five months of the year combined. So “96,000” is a remarkable figure. And almost certainly evidence of an ACTIVE attempt at sabotage.

    I fixed your joined links.

  4. Grant in Texas - July 8, 2012

    Overall, the trends in GDP and employment aren’t as bad as the right-wing would have you believe. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3252 If I was unemployed and saw Republicans unable to hold back their joy reveling in my misery, I could not vote for one of them. Our elected politicians are so wealthy they cannot relate to the 99%.

  5. Grant in Texas - July 9, 2012

    5 Ways Republicans Have Sabotaged Job Growth: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/06/511940/5-ways-republicans-sabotaged-job-growth/

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