The self-proclaimed economic “experts” celebrated the recent Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics January jobs report which showed that the United States’ economy added a striking 353,000 jobs in January. To top that off, the unemployment rate has been below four percent for two years now - the longest stretch since the 1960’s.
The average American worker should be thrilled that the U.S. labor market is positioned to see a stretch of solid economic growth in the coming months while simultaneously celebrating the news that the American economy is so strong, right?
Or is it?
Per ADP, a private payroll and Human Resources organization that produces a monthly jobs report, employment in January declined. The human resources giant reported that “Private payroll growth declined sharply in January, a possible sign that the U.S. labor market is heading for a slowdown this year. Companies added 107,000 workers in the first month of 2024, off from the downwardly revised 158,000 in December and below the Dow Jones estimate of 150,000.”
The question is - who do you want to believe?
Government bureaucrats who have marching orders to get a President reelected ahead of one of the most significant elections of our lifetime, or a public company that has to report to shareholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission?
Let us examine what the government report told us.
First, let’s examine wages. In January, “average hourly earnings for all employees rose by 19 cents to $34.55. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 4.5%.” However, under President Biden, prices are up significantly, 17.6%.
In addition, people are working less. The average work week for all employees “decreased by 0.2 hours to 34.1 hours in January and is done by 0.5 hours over the year.”
Combine that with the fact that Americans are working multiple jobs. In November 2023, nearly 8.4 million Americans were working multiple jobs to make ends meet.
This is important to note because each of those jobs counts as a single job which falsely drives up the unemployment numbers while driving down unemployment levels.
People are working fewer hours and falling further and further behind the rising price of everything they buy.
Food, shelter, and fuel represent nearly 69% of a working American’s budget, and the inflation there has been insane.
Under President Biden, food at home prices were 11.4 percent higher in 2022 than in 2021, when Biden took office. “For context, the 20-year historical level of retail food inflation is 2.0 percent per year.” Food prices increased an additional 2.7% in 2023.
Fuel prices were up 19.4% from December 2021 to December 2022. Remember $5.00 per gallon gas?
Shelter costs are also out of control. Shelter costs were up nearly 8% in 2022, and 6.2% in 2023.
Working Americans are losing ground to immigrants. “Over 1.2 million native-born Americans lost jobs from July to August 2023. However, over the same period, nearly 700,000 new jobs went to foreign-born workers.
This is an unfavorable statistic for America’s working poor. Perhaps this is why the Biden Regime wants so many, undocumented foreign workers in the United States - to replace American workers since they will accept lower paying jobs.
So what does this mean for America’s working class?
For the working single mother in Chicago, it means she is most likely working two jobs and is worse off than she was under President Trump. Approximately 60% of working Americans say their income has lagged inflation over the past twelve months, up from 55% in 2022.
This is far from surprising since data from CNN, shows that Americans are spending $709 more per month just to exist than they were two years ago. Maybe that additional $8,500 per year is why President Biden has an approval rating not seen since Jimmy Carter?
President Biden finished 2023 with an average approval rating of 39.8%, and former President Trump now leads President Biden by five points in the latest national poll.
So, while the press and economic experts sing the praises of the most recent jobs report, working Americans are still struggling to pay for gas and put food on the table. And those struggling Americans will find their way to the ballot box this November and vote like their lives depend on it.