The employment and unemployment reports of the U.S. Labor Department, of which new weekly and month editions appeared March 4-5, must be put in the context of the past year’s degradation of what was already an economy in very serious—though “stable” under Trump—condition. For many months now, 18-20 million Americans have had to be on unemployment benefits, although some of them were working occasional days, were perhaps being paid something by their sometime employers, etc. At various times between 4 million and 7 million more of them have been “out of the labor force but wanting a job"; and the additional number forced to work part-time has been in the range of 5 million. Over an entire year, goods-producing or productive employment (manufacturing, construction, mining, drilling, transport) has lost nearly 1 million jobs and not gained any back, returning to already very low 2015 levels.
Rapid GDP growth, a “scorching economy” and various other ejaculations will be claimed and made in the first quarter because of large increases in consumer purchases.
