The United States, as we all
know, is the strongest and most developed nation on earth. However, with
falling economies across the globe, some shocking figures might just throw you
off guard and open your eyes wide enough to understand and accept that all that
glitters is not gold. I’d like tossed light on hidden unemployment in the U.S.,
which is not always apparent to the media, government officials or the masses.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is
an autonomous body and the main U.S. government agency that keeps a complete
record of labor and job trends on a regular basis. They provide complete
statistics and detailed data that inspire most labor policies enacted by the
U.S government. Every month they calculate the number of new jobs created both
nationally and within individual states. Although these figures are always
delayed by a month, they provide a true, clear and concrete picture of the labor
and job trends prevalent in the country. Hence, based strictly upon the most
recent BLS report released on November 8, 2013, one might be pleased
that 204,000 new jobs were created. Furthermore, if we sum up the jobs numbers
for the last six months, we get a whooping figure of 1,053,000-jobs created, which
sounds really enticing considering many of the government’s policies over the
last several years have run contrary to jobs creation. Unfortunately, those
figures only focus on those “purely defined” as unemployed.
However, digging more deeply into
BLS figures, we unearth that 21.7 million workers in the U.S are either a)
unemployed or b) underemployed (people who are not left with an option but to
work part-time because they cannot find a full time job) or c) having just
given up looking for a job! When those figures are added to the unemployment
numbers, the rate explodes from 7.3% to almost 16%! That is 1 in every 6 people
you meet on the U.S. streets!
A lot more needs to be done to
create jobs. Especially to assist small companies, which is the traditional
engine of jobs growth. Many of my clients are small business owners and they
regularly convey to me that they wish to add new personnel. Unfortunately, they
are afraid of the current government climate including many new regulations
that will add a lot of necessary burden to them. Instead, government should
lessen the regulatory load on small businesses so we can further expand the
jobs market in the U.S.!
0 comments:
Post a Comment