In order to achieve an unemployment rate of less than 8%, I know there’s been a lot of discussion about the so-called hiring of over 800,000 people last month.
I also know that much more learned men than me, notably Jack Welch, have called into question the coincidence factor of the presidential election being just one month away. I’ve often wondered, and have previously discussed, the birth/death factor as it relates to the potential manipulation of the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly data.
The possibility of some government bureaucrat with a green eyeshade, sequestered in a hidden room, simply assuming the net birth/death result was over 100,000 jobs has often entered into my consciousness.
But being the trusting soul that I am, I’ll give the President and (as Welch calls them) “the boys from Chicago” the benefit of the doubt.
After all, it might not be a stretch to interview a few thousand households and obtain that 800,000 job figure.
Perhaps the BLS is interviewing the most knowledgeable people in every community who really have a pulse on what’s happening in their area.
And maybe these hypothetical well-informed citizens actually know where all the jobs are. In any event, with all that said, my biggest question involves the reported job increase regarding a certain sector of workers, who over the past twenty-five years have always indicated a decrease in employment during the month of September.
That’s right; I’m referring to college students.
Each day that passes, the colossal student debt bubble continues to grow larger and larger. Currently, it’s estimated that all the credit card debt combined does not even come close to the total amount currently owed by our graduates and undergraduates.
Historically, many of those same students try to offset the borrowed funds with part-time summer jobs.
And it’s only natural that as school starts in the fall, those students bid adieu to part-time work and head back to campus.
Thus, year after year, the BLS would report the increase in age 18 to 25 year-old unemployment.
That’s just common sense.
However, over the past two years it seems that something extraordinary has happened as the 18 to 25 year-old sector of the population has watched their employment increase, right along with their student loans.
An unexplained miracle performed by that notorious genius, Barack Obama, who’s done it once again by creating hundreds of thousands of jobs for those same students who are borrowing money and heading back to class.
Brilliant!
It’s absolutely amazing to me that the student population, who can’t find work and are hiding out in ivory towers, are counted as having jobs in order to achieve an imaginary 7.8% unemployment rate.
Maybe college student athletes are finally being recognized as employed “professionals.”