As you’ve probably heard by now, employment was up by 103,000 last month. Since the economy needs to generate 100-150,000 jobs each month just to keep up with population growth, this means that in real terms we’re either treading water or actually moving backward. In any case, it’s a lousy report.
But rather than run my usual chart showing this, here’s a peek at the details from the BLS report instead. As you can see, our problem is that the private sector is producing more jobs — though slowly — but the public sector is shrinking. That’s been the story for a long time now, though you might not know it given the ceaseless clamor from the right about big government, overbearing regulations, and out-of-control spending. The evening news isn’t likely to point this out, but the truth is that government employment is down across the board, and that’s a big reason our economy has remained so sluggish. Not only are conservatives in Congress grimly determined to prevent any substantive action to improve the economy, but conservatives around the country are actively making things worse. And we wonder why people have such a dim view of our elected officials.
