Hey Washington! We're Still 10 Million Jobs Short

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/19-12

The U.S. recession officially ended in June 2009, but most Americans don't feel like we are in a recovery. That's because it's been a weak recovery, with the size of the economy barely bigger today than it was four years ago, when the recession started.

Since America is a rich country, it is not growth itself that matters most but employment and, of course, the distribution of income. And the employment numbers are just terrible.

The simplest measure is the percentage of the working-age population that is employed. That peaked at 63.4 percent in December 2006. It plummeted to a low of 58.2 percent last July and is hardly different now - 58.5 percent in the latest figures.

What this means is that we need about 10 million jobs to get back to full employment.

[Magoo48]

1. Jobs are key, of course. The huge question in my mind is....will people earn a living compensation.

Without a fundamental revaluing of all labor performed in society, we will continue sinking into poverty and disillusion. Jobs or no jobs.

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. KnR

[izquierdista]

3. Fun with arithmetic

Suppose the Government put 10 million people on the payroll tomorrow. Suppose further that they paid them a bit over minimum wage, say $7.50 and hour. How much would that strain the budget?

A: A work-year is about 2000 hours, so each person on the payroll is going to cost $15,000. Multiply that by 10 million and you need to come up with $150 billion dollars. Wow, that's a lot of dough -- but it's still LESS than a quarter of the defense budget.