July 2013

Obamacare does NOT create part-time jobs

A report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics titled Comparing benefit costs for full- and part-time workers says, "Health insurance appears to be the only benefit representing a true quasi-fixed cost to employers, meaning that the cost per hour worked is greater for part-time employees than it is for full-time employees."

Friday Movie Night - Frontline: Two American Families

We fill our lives with media.  Day in and day out the screens and voices spin a tall fictional tale of Americans with good jobs, houses, cars, educational opportunities and money.  Frontline brings home the real America, the one we don't want to face.  Gone is the American Dream, replaced with foreclosures, food stamps and work that doesn't pay enough to even make the most modest rent.  The new America is a wasteland of broken dreams, broken promises and broken people working themselves into the ground and still not even getting by.

PPI - Wholesale Inflation Increases 0.8% for June 2013

The June Producer Price Index increased 0.8% for finished goods.  May PPI increased 0.5%, but April dropped -0.7%.  For the year PPI increased 2.5%.  This is the biggest annual increase since March 2012.   Gasoline again is the culprit, with wholesale prices surging 7.2%.  Core PPI, which is finished goods minus food and energy prices, increased 0.2% for the month.

Robert Reich: Reverse Mathematics on Immigration

Before arguing against Robert Reich's antiquated theory on his pro-immigration stance, first allow me to give you a very brief history of immigration to the U.S. as it relates to population growth, and the major occupation that supported the livelihoods of most Americans during this time. That way, by putting everything into a broader context, you will have a much better understanding of just how new immigration will affect us today.

Manufacturing Matters

On Manufacturing and Innovation

Manufacturing was once widely recognized as the outstanding strength of America and the basis of its prosperity, but manufacturing also has a more recent history of being almost a pariah.  This newer view equated computer chips with potato chips, asserted that manufacturing is better left to others, and suggested that the nation is actually fortunate to be losing manufacturing and aiming to replace it with design, research, and services.

JOLTS Report Shows Job Openings Static Again for May 2013

The BLS May JOLTS report, or Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows there are 3.1 official unemployed per job opening, the same as the last three months.  Every month it is the same story, a static dead pool job market with employers clearly not hiring and this is in spite of the revisions to jobs gained.  Job openings didn't change, a measily 0.7% increase from last month to a total of 3,828,000.  Hirings didn't change much either, a 1.0% change to 4.441 million.  Real hiring has only increased 22% from June 2009.  Job openings are still below pre-recession levels of 4.7 million.  Job openings have increased 76% from July 2009.  Every month JOLTS reports the same bleak labor market conditions.

Time to Kill The Immigration Bill

As expected, the Senate betrayed workers everywhere and passed the corporate cheap labor laden immigration bill and now lobbyists are pushing it to pass the House before voters can react in 2014.  America's workers only hope now lies with Republicans, not exactly known for their labor friendly agenda.  The situation is bleak.  Even the AFL-CIO has sold out U.S. technical workers as well as low wage workers and endorsed the Senate bill.

A Detailed Look at the BLS Payrolls Employment Report for June 2013

The BLS unemployment report shows total nonfarm payroll jobs gained were 195,000 for June 2013, with private payrolls adding 202,000 jobs.  Government jobs declined by 7,000.  May was revised up by 20,000 to show a 195,000 payroll gain and April was also revised up by 50,000 to 199,000 jobs added for that month.   While this is great news, unfortunately the types of jobs gained are mostly low paying ones.

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