New Jobs Not The Same As The Old Jobs

In January the unemployment rate in this country dropped to about 9% according to the government. This caused some celebration among some pundits, who claimed it was evidence that the economy is rebounding. I wish that was true, but its not. Even the wizards at the Labor Department admitted that the cause of the drop in the unemployment number was most likely due to many more people giving up on finding a job (at least through unemployment agencies).

The truth is that the number of jobs created in January barely kept up with the number of new people entering the job market, while millions of Americans have given up trying to find work (when you add in those who have given up and those working part-time because they can't find full-time work, the jobless figure climbs to 16-17%). But the lack of jobs is not the only problem.

There is also the matter of the quality of the few new jobs being created. These new jobs come with much lower wages and fewer benefits than the millions of jobs lost in the Republican recession. Many higher wage jobs, especially in industrial work, are still being outsourced to other countries (where they can be changed into low wage jobs).

Also, some jobs that used to be done by higher paid people are now being done by those in lower-paying positions. For example, in the health-care industry "tasks that were previously performed by doctors, nurses, dentists or other health-care professionals increasingly are being performed by physician assistants, medical assistants, dental hygienists and physical therapist aides."

Another example is Lowe's, a chain of home improvement stores. They are cutting 1,700 store manager positions (high paying jobs), and hiring more weekend sales clerks (very low-paying jobs). By cutting high-wage jobs and pushing the work down to lower-wage employees, companies can fatten profits without increasing sales or production. And many companies are taking advantage of the recession to do exactly that.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting that one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy, as far as jobs are concerned, will be among "food preparation and serving" workers. In the ten-year period ending in 2018, the number of jobs in that area is expected to grow by around 394,000 jobs. The problem is that these jobs pay an average of only about $16,430 (including tips). And they don't come with many, if any, benefits.

This is exactly what corporate America wants -- a low-paid work force with plenty of unemployed people to keep those low-wage workers from demanding too much. We are witnessing the destruction of the middle class and a return to the time before unions helped workers achieve a decent and stable income. A time when the rich controlled most of the wealth and income of the country, and everyone else was reduced to begging for scraps.

This is not the way to bring this country out of recession. Republicans still seem to be convinced that if rich people are given enough money they will create decent good-paying jobs for the rest of America. But that is not, and never has been, how unregulated capitalism works. The corporate moguls know this, and that's why they are encouraging their Republican puppets to bust the unions (the only force in America that pressures business to give workers a fair deal).

The good jobs are leaving (with the blessing of our idiot politicians), and they are being replaced by crap-jobs (and not even enough of them). It's a corporate mogul's wet dream, and that's why they are pouring millions into our political system to help Republicans. They know the Republicans they're buying will use whatever excuse they can (like deficit reduction) to keep things just like they are.

Get used to the pain folks. Until we wake up and put a real progressive in the White House and progressive majorities in Congress, this is the way it's going to be.