Three Reasons the Jobs Report Does Not Reflect Main Street Reality
Don’t fall for corporate media narrative or statistical noise…
After a good headline number for the just-released January jobs report from Washington, Biden’s amen corner in the corporate media gushed with enthusiasm.
These biased press partisans realize that the economy remains Biden’s biggest weakness, with immigration coming in a close second. So, naturally, outlets like CNN promoted headlines like this one: “The US economy added 353,000 jobs in January, starting off the new year with a bang.”
But is that sentiment true?
Also, if the White House/media narrative is accurate, then why are Americans so overwhelmingly negative on the economy, the direction of the country, and Biden’s performance on economic issues?
Looking at this specific jobs report, three crucial details within the report reveal why this apparently strong headline does not translate to kitchen table prosperity for working-class Americans, and why economic issues remain a massive vulnerability for Biden and his allies into November’s elections.
1. PART-TIME WORK – other than the 2020 lockdowns, total hours worked per week, per worker, fell to the lowest levels seen since 2010. As shown on this chart from the St Louis Federal Reserve, average hours worked has declined the whole of Biden’s time in office -- and descends now to levels well below the norm of Trump’s pre-virus economy.
This seeming contradiction brings up the key point. After all, how can it be that total hours worked declines, even as lots of new positions are added?
The simple answer: these are part-time jobs, which involve fewer hours. Observing this damning statistic underneath the rosy headline, the chief economist for ING Bank wrote:
“All of the jobs the American economy is adding are part-time and the average workweek fell to 34.1 hours — that is recession territory!”
2. REAL WAGES – the mother’s milk of Main Street prosperity is growth in real wages, meaning pay adjusted for the costs of the goods and services needed to live. For the vast majority of Americans who do not hold significant financial assets, the buying power of their weekly pay determines their standard of living.
The troubling reality is that real wages have crashed under Joe Biden. Even though they have upticked slightly in the last few months, overall Bidenomics has been a brutal, crushing blow to the buying power of American workers. Biden’s inflation has robbed all pay increases since his inauguration…and then some!
Here is the proof in chart form.
While the recent uptick is welcome, real incomes are still far lower under Biden, after the unprecedented 24 straight months of declining real incomes. We remain far away from a true recovery in real wages, and Americans know it, see below.
3. CONFIDENCE – regular Americans do not need to scour the data and the charts to know that they are working harder to afford less. Also, ask any job recruiter or recent graduate about the health of the job market and the responses will not reflect the lavish enthusiasm of the Biden-adoring media.
Even as these part-time positions are added, layoffs of higher paying full-time jobs accelerate.
On this topic, Andy Challenger, senior vice president of executive placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas cited the intense layoffs of 2023, which were 98% higher than 2022 layoffs. Challenger also warned about the new year: "employers are still extremely cautious and in cost-cutting mode heading into 2024, so the hiring process will likely slow for many job-seekers and cuts will continue in the first quarter."
Given these harsh realities, no wonder Bidenomics saps the spirits of struggling American workers. Specifically, in polling just completed for my advocacy group, the League of American Workers, in the key swing state of Georgia only 5% of voters report a “very favorable” view of the term “Bidenomics,” while a stunning 35% report a “very unfavorable” opinion. In another key swing state, Arizona, our polling reveals similar pessimism, as only 18% of Arizonans believe that the “American Dream is still attainable.”
Such brutal pessimism pervades across the land, and especially among middle- and lower-income voters who struggle the most in Biden’s terrible economy. No amount of media propaganda will help the hard-working single mom who is appalled at the prices she pays at the grocery store, or the would-be homebuyer who is priced out of the most unaffordable housing market in history.
We can do better. We must.