[lbo-talk] strong jobs report

[Nathan Newman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>
>I remember about ten years ago, just as the last jobless recovery was
>turning jobful, that practically every leftie around denied the
>evidence of an improving economy. Rifkin and Aronowitz were
>circulating tales of the end of work. They were wrong. Maybe they
>were just ten years early, and their analysis has finally come true,
>but I'm going to keep an open mind, and not dismiss the evidence
>placed before me.

I've never been a doomsday leftist, and I definitely was never in the
Rifkin/Aronowitz camp in the past, but the present economy is just refusing
to move in any serious way.  The growth numbers seem soft, with possible
miscalculations of real inflation possibly skewing them, and this jobs
report just doesn't convince me otherwise.

Work Done =  Number of People Working  X  Hours of Work They Do

If the Hours of Work falls at the same time that the Number of People
Working Goes Up, the end result is a wash.

Why should anyone take that change that seriously?

It's interesting that the number of jobs increased, but it's hardly an
indication of robustness of the economy if all the people presently employed
are seeing their work hours cut back at the same time.

Only when hours increase AND number of jobs increase will it be a sign of
robustness in the jobs economy.

Nathan Newman