The Real News on Jobs

[IDemo]

Robert Reich
Posted: March 4, 2011 01:42 PM

Are we making progress on the jobs front? The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 192,000 new jobs in February (220,000 new jobs in the private sector and a drop in government employment), and a drop in the overall unemployment rate from 9 to 8.9 percent.

We're heading in the right direction but far too slowly to make a real dent in unemployment. To get the unemployment rate down to 6 percent by 2014 we'd need over 300,000 new jobs a month, every month, between now and then.

Overall, the number of unemployed Americans -- 13.7 million -- is about the same as it was last month. The number working part time who'd rather be working full time -- 8.3 million -- is also about the same.

But to get to the most important trend you have to dig under the job numbers and look at what kind of new jobs are being created. That's where the big problem lies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-real-news-on-jobs_b_831493.html?ir=Politics