The U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent according to the latest employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Payroll employment increases by 216,000 in December; unemployment rate unchanged at 3.7% #JobsReport #BLSdata https://t.co/ZwrVfLviqL
— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) January 5, 2024
Below these headline numbers, however, troubling data reflects poorly on the Biden administration’s economic policy and what it's done to American workers.
Among the worrisome numbers: the workforce participation rate decreased 0.3 percent in December to 62.5 percent. The employment-population ratio also dipped 0.3 percent to 60.1 percent. That indicates that some 700,000 Americans dropped out of the workforce.
CNBC: Labor force participation — at 62.5% — is "the lightest going all the way back to January of last year."
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 5, 2024
"This isn't a good sign." pic.twitter.com/bwBDdmXmXh
In addition, BLS reported that the number of Americans with only part-time employment due to economic reasons — that is, people who want full-time jobs but couldn't find one or had their hours cut — increased by 330,000 during 2023, totaling 4.2 million.
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2023 also saw the number of Americans who want a job but have withdrawn from the labor market increase by 514,000 to a total of 4.2 million in December.
The final jobs report from 2023 also saw another troubling trend continuing: a significant portion of jobs “added” were in government — and not the result of organic economic growth. In December, 52,000 of the 216,000 reported jobs were in local or federal government.
Jobs came in higher than expected, but look under the hood:
— Brian Brenberg (@BrianBrenberg) January 5, 2024
- Gov. jobs (+52k) was the leader. Again.
- Previous two months revised DOWN by 71k
- Household survey shows the number of employed FELL by 683k
- Participation rate fell to 62.5–nearly 700k DROPPED OUT
Strong?
What’s more, after Biden & Co. have already attempted their victory laps on previous monthly jobs reports, December’s print again revised down the number of jobs added in prior months — a fate that likely also awaits December’s report.
For October, BLS now says 105,000 jobs were added, not the 150,000 initially reported. In November as well, BLS revised its total to 173,000, down from 199,000. That means the economy added 71,000 fewer jobs than BLS initially said.
All of the numbers above record just the employment piece of the consequences of "Bidenomics," a suite of policies that have also brought more than 24 consecutive months in which American workers' real wages ran negative, the highest inflation rates in 40 years, the most expensive gas ever, and the highest interest rates since early 2001.
As Biden's poll numbers confirm, Americans are not pleased with the Biden economy, and his attempts to scold them into disbelieving their own experiences have not caused his approval numbers on the economy to rebound. With more Americans leaving the labor force, things look increasingly malaise-ish as 2024 gets underway.
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