Jobs Report: The Devil's in the Details

Take a look at a few of the “Lamestream Media” reports on the latest jobs numbers:

Marketwatch: ‘Amazing’ jobs report, apart from wages
Bloomberg: December Employment Gain Caps Best Year for U.S. Since 1999; Wage Gains Lag
USA Today:“The employment report also confirms that the U.S. remains a bright spot in an otherwise languishing world economy.”

You’d think we were actually in some kind of jobs recovery, with those headlines. Let’s get serious, as the devil is always in the details.

Wages Down
340,000 Drop out of Workforce
Shale Bloodbath to Begin

340,000 More People Dropped Out of the Workforce

Let’s look at the numbers that are published monthly from the government BS. I meant – BLS (Bureau of Labor and Statistics): Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 252,000 in December and the unemployment rate went down to 5.6% from 5.8%.

The Household Survey showed that 450,000 people left the labor force in December, while only 110,000 people got jobs.

The details are that the labor participation rate just slid once more, dropping to 62.7%, or the lowest since December 1977. This happened because the number of Americans not in the labor forced skyrocketed to 451,000 in December – far outpacing the 111,000 jobs added according to the Household Survey. It is the primary reason why the number of uenmployed Americans dropped by 383,000.

But, But the Reason for the Low Participation Rate is Because the Older Americans are Retiring. WRONG!

No, many of them can’t afford to retire, as they make no interest on money in the bank and inflation is causing all of their costs to go up. “The number of workers 55 and over just hit 32.9 million, up 1.3 million from a year ago, and anall time high.“

For those young people under 55, including college graduates who can’t find a decent job in their field, the biggest “number of workers employed in Food Service and Drinking Places, i.e., sub-minimum wage waiters and bartenders jumped by 43,600: the highest monthly increase since 2012.” No doubt people are out drinking their sorrows away, and the retirees that can afford to eat out are providing the only lifeline left to the young.

Biggest Job Increases in Waiters and Bartenders

In December, 43,600 people got jobs waiting tables and tending bar.
That’s the highest number added in that
segment since 2012.

For those college graduates and young people that get lucky enough to find a job, this is where they are working-in Food Service and Drinking Places. Translated: sub-minimum wage waiters and bartenders jumped by 43,600: the highest monthly increase since 2012.

“A lot of these waiters and waitresses are working part-time; they could be in their 60s and many of them probably have college degrees,” states economist Peter Schiff.

Wages Plunge Most In Last 8 Years

This was the biggest crash in hours earnings since the data series began in 2006. USA Today reports, “a 0.2% drop in average hourly wages, which fell short of the +0.2% wage gain expected.” Expected? Why do these lamestream mediaists always expect higher numbers? Zerohedge reports the truth, that “Hourly Earnings Plunge Most In At Least 8 Years”.

… taking the series to an all time high record of 10.848 million workers, and rapidly catching up with America’s barely growing manufacturing sector. The one where we are soon to see a bloodbath in shale layoffs.

Industries Adding the Most Jobs

What about other industries? Here is the full breakdown of the December 250,000 seasonally-adjusted job increase by industry: note the “strength” in low-paying education, health, leisure and hospitality, and retail sectors.

Shale Bloodbath to Begin

“In Houston, Texas, the first oil industry layoffs have been announced. States such as Texas, North Dakota, Alaska, Oklahoma and New Mexico are all likely to feel strains next year,” reports Reuters.

“The fact that the economic index is in decline in this region signals that the economy in these oil states is heading for an economic slowdown,” said Jerry Thomas, president of Decision Analyst.

Already, layoffs have been initiated by service companies like Halliburton and Hercules Offshore. And oil producer ConocoPhillips pared its 2015 drilling budget by deferring drilling in America’s shale developments,” according to The Advocate.

Lastly, Wolf Street reports that “US Steel is going to shutter plants in Houston, Texas, and Lorain, Ohio, that together produce annually over 800,000 tons of steel pipe for the oil and gas industry. In total, 756 workers will be axed starting in March, the majority in Ohio.

As the drilling boom craters, orders for steel pipe and tubes – US Steel’s “most reliable profit driver,” according to Wells Fargo analyst Sam Dubinsky – are fizzling. There will be a lot more bloodletting.”

Peter Schiff weighs in saying, ” The real problem with the Labor Force Partipcipation Rate is that if you’re over 55 the rate it is on the rise. The collapse is among the younger people. The older people are not retiring, because they can’t afford to.

There are 92.9 million people not in the labor force. I’m wondering when that number is going to hit 100 million Americans not working. The big problem is going to be the Social Security, because they need the young workers in the work force to pay the taxes so that the few Americans who can still afford to retire can actually do it.

Here’s another statistic:

For every 2 persons that entered the workforce – 4 people left.

This is really not a good report. We also got the Consumer Credit news. It was supposed to rise by 15 Billion. It only rose by 14.1 Billion. Here’s the real story: Credit card balances actually dropped by the most in a year. The credit that was added was student loans and auto loans.

I think a lot of the people going to college are doing so to get the loans and using the loans to pay rent and other things. The credit card numbers show they are tightening their belts.

Along those lines, the auto delinquencies are now at their highest rate since 2008. It is what it was during the depths of the financial crisis. If this is during a 5% growing economy, then what’s going to happen during the next downturn?

This is an indication that consumers are running out of credit. On student loans, you’ve got the President coming out this week saying that he wants to make community college free. FREE. What is this going to do to the cost of college? It’s going to skyrocket.

Because if you can go to community college for free, a lot more people are going to want to go, so demand goes up. It’s not free, it’s going to cost a lot of money for the state government. And you only have to go part time, so theoretically, you could be at a 2 year college for 4 years.”

Those are quite some depressing details, which proves the saying, “The devil’s in the details.” This time the devil is taking the appearance of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the lamestream media at large.

Article authored by Carol Serpa. You can find the original story right here.