The US economy is suffering from a nasty case of austerity.
Only 165,000 new jobs were created in April -- far fewer than is needed to address existing unemployment and to create positions for the millions of Americans who are entering the workforce.
More than 11.7 million active job seekers cannot find work. And that figure does not include millions of Americans who have given up on looking for work, or who are severely under-employed. Add them in and the real unemployment's at 13.9 percent.
Even the jobs that are being created tend to be in sectors of the economy where wages tend to low and benefits often nonexistent. For instance, the latest report notes growth in the "temporary services" sector. But there's zero job growth in manufacturing.
"This is a classic 'hold-steady' report --enough job growth to keep the unemployment rate stable but not much more," Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, says of the latest news from the US Department of Labor. "In good times, this would be fine, but at a time like this, it represents an ongoing disaster."
Why are things so slow?
In a word: austerity.
"This month's abysmal jobs number -- 165,000 new jobs in April, barely enough to cover new people coming into workforce -- is a self-inflicted wound. Government austerity -- (misguided tax policies) and spending cuts -- is suffocating the economy, just when it needs air," explains Robert Borosage, the co-director of the Campaign for America's Future. "And the perversity will get worse. The sequester cuts are only now beginning to hit. Austerity is driving Europe deeper into recession. China is slowing. US exports will suffer. And Washington is about to descend into new self-manufactured crises around next year's budget and the debt ceiling. The positive signs in housing, the extraordinary measures taken by the Federal Reserve, the soaring stock market are undermined by Washington's failure."
