jobs – Page 3 – The Burning Platform

Jobs Report Huge Miss at 38,000 Jobs Added, Shrinking Workweek, Stagnant Real Wages

Guest Post by Jesse

“This election was lost four and five and six years ago and not this year. They didn’t start thinking of the poor old common fellow until they started out on the election tour.

The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover was an engineer. He knew that water trickled down. Put it uphill and let it go and it will reach the driest little spot.

But he didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night anyhow. But it will at least have passed through some poor fellow’s hands.

They saved the big banks, but the little ones went up the flue.”

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Will Rogers, 5 December 1932

I said yesterday that ‘I have a hunch that gold and silver are being capped here for a reason. Maybe. It’s hard to tell with the non-linear Fed.’

And today I think that things are becoming clearer, as suspected. The Fed needs to raise rates to cool down the economy, in a pig’s eye. They want to raise rates for their own policy purposes, so they can lower them again when their latest paper asset bubble fails.

The common person may not understand all this, and the lessons from history. But the ‘experts’ most certainly should understand them, and quite frankly they do. They may not say so, they may never admit it, they may let themselves be convinced, and even convince themselves and quiet the nagging doubts, but at the end of the day they know exactly what they are doing, what they are abiding, what they are enabling if only by their silent acquiescence.

Continue reading “Jobs Report Huge Miss at 38,000 Jobs Added, Shrinking Workweek, Stagnant Real Wages”

HARD TIMES & FALSE NARRATIVES

The mainstream media mouthpieces for the establishment peddle false narratives, disingenuous storylines, and outright propaganda to keep the ignorant masses confused, oblivious to reality, misinformed, and passively submissive to the opinions of highly paid “experts” and captured fiscal authorities. The existing social order likes things just as they are.

They reap ill-gotten riches, wield unchecked power, and control the minds of the masses. They are the invisible government consciously manipulating the minds, habits and opinions of the multitudes in order to dominate society, control the levers of government, and accumulate obscene levels of wealth through manipulation of the currency and domination of the banking and corporate interests.

One of the false narratives being flogged by the establishment propaganda peddlers is the mass retirement of Baby Boomers causing the plunge in the employment to population rate from 64.4% in 2000 to 59.7% today. They need to peddle this drivel, because the difference between these two rates amounts to 12 million missing jobs. The employment to population ratio is currently at 1984 levels. Any critical thinking person with basic math skills realizes the government reported unemployment rate of 5% is an Orwellian farce.

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Housing Recovery – Not So Much

Guest Post by Lance Roberts

“Everyone wants a house, and that’s a big problem.

We’ve noted in the past that there is a substantial issue in the housing market right now. Too few homes are being built for the number of people that want to move into them, thus driving up prices and keeping some lower-end or first-time buyers out of the market.“

It is quite amazing that amount of optimism surrounding the housing market which has yet to recover substantially from post-financial crisis lows given the exorbitant amount of monetary stimulants injected into it.

The chart below shows the Total Housing Market Activity Index which is a composite of new and existing home sales, permits and starts. Yes, housing has recovered, but remains well below levels seen in 1999.

But let’s not let a trivial matter of data get in the way of a good story.

“Meanwhile, according to the Conference Board, although the share of households planning on buying a home in the next six months ticked down in April to 5.4%, that is significantly above the average of 3.6% recorded since 1978,” wrote Matthew Pointon, property economist at Capital Economics.

While individuals may CLAIM they want to buy a home when asked, there is a massive difference between “wanting to do something” and actually being able to do it.

Notice in the chart above that the spike in “home ownership desires” spiked in 2011 and has been steadily climbing since then. Surely, if we have a record number of households planning to buy a home, that should be reflected in the home ownership rate as well.

Considering that almost 80% of Americans can’t meet small emergencies, 1-in-5 families have ZERO members employed, and incomes are less than they were in 2000 – the chart above makes a good deal of sense. It is also why we have seen the rise of the “renter nation.”

Of course, I am assuming that Matt Pointon wasn’t talking about the newest fad in housing for Millennials: The 150-sq. ft. micro-home.

Here’s How Gov’t Housing Vouchers End Up Causing More Poverty

Via The Daily Caller

Federal officials spend more tax dollars on Section 8 housing vouchers than they do on cash welfare, and the program often perpetuates poverty rather than alleviating it, according to an urban housing expert.

“Its incentives are completely skewed,” Howard Husock, vice president for policy research and director of the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative at the Manhattan Institute, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

“You’ve ‘hit the lottery’ and you’re set for life,” said Husock, referring to those who receive housing assistance for decades, a lifetime or even generations, while others wait for years on a waiting list. “Not only do you hit the lottery and you can sit back and have a housing unit for life, but remember, your deal is you pay 30 percent of your income in rent, but what it means is for every additional dollar you earn, you pay an addition 30 cents in rent,” he said.

Voucher recipients pay 30 percent of their income in rent no matter how much they earn, which stifles motivation to earn more, Husock said. Federal housing assistance, unlike the five-year cap imposed on welfare benefits in 1995, has no time limit. Husock, author of, “America’s Trillion-Dollar Housing Mistake: The Failure of America’s Housing Policy,” calls it “welfare unreformed.”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development paid $18 billion in vouchers, not including associated costs, in fiscal year 2014, versus the $16.5 billion the Department of Health and Human Services spent on cash welfare the same year.

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Even the NYTimes used to understand economics

Guest Post by Donald Sensing

The Right Minimum Wage – $0.00 – NYTimes.com

The idea of using a minimum wage to overcome poverty is old, honorable – and fundamentally flawed. It’s time to put this hoary debate behind us, and find a better way to improve the lives of people who work very hard for very little.

As I posted in 2003 in “Why planned economies cannot succeed,”

I am wondering whether the federal min-wage law actually keeps the poor down because it sets a legal wage ceiling, not a floor, above which employers don’t really have to pay.

Some states are mandating a min-wage of $15 per hour. Since we know, as Leftists do not, that money doesn’t grow on trees, where will the money come from to pay for the increase. Service industries will be hardest hit, especially food service and restaurants.

Say, for example, White Castle burgers.

“We’re disappointed. What this means for White Castle is we really have to evaluate how we manage our business,” [White Castle vice president Jamie] Richardson tells me. “About 30 percent of every sales dollar covers the pay of our hourly workers, and that doesn’t include management.”

“It’s our biggest investment, our biggest cost. And it’s one that if we see increase dramatically through fiat, and we don’t do anything — it’s unsustainable,” Richardson says. “We are in uncharted waters.”

“Is there any room to raise prices to cover costs?” Richardson muses. “We think we’d need to increase menu prices by something like 50 percent. It’s not something we’ve done before. It’d be catastrophic.”

The problem is that liberal politicians have almost never run a business or done anything but play politics, which for them is a never-ending game of mandating how you should spend your own money. Therefore, they do not understand the difference between elasticity and inelasticity in business costs and revenue.

Continue reading “Even the NYTimes used to understand economics”

ICARUS

Via Investors.com

HILLARY VOWS TO DESTROY AMERICAN BUSINESSES & JOBS

This fucking bitch vows to destroy an industry that currently generates 39% of all the electricity in our country, along with employing hundreds of thousands of middle class Americans. Does she really think wind and solar are going to replace coal? Get ready for blackouts and grid failure under Queen Hillary.

The $15 Minimum Wage and the End of Teen Work

Guest Post by Jack Salmon

A new report from JP Morgan Chase & Co. finds that the summer employment rate for teenagers is nearing a record low at 34 percent. The report surveyed 15 US cities and found that despite an increase in summer positions available over a two year period, only 38 percent of teens and young adults found summer jobs.

This would be worrying by itself given the importance of work experience in entry-level career development, but it is also part of a long-term trend. Since 1995 the rate of seasonal teenage employment has declined by over a third from around 55 percent to 34 percent in 2015. The report does not attempt to examine why summer youth employment has fallen over the past two decades. If it had, it would probably find one answer in the minimum wage.

Most of the 15 cities studied in this report have minimum wage rates above the federal level, with cities such as Seattle having a rate more than double that. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics seen in the chart show exactly how a drastic rise in the minimum wage rate affects the rate of employment.

Seattle has experienced the largest 3 month job loss in its history last year, following the introduction of a $15 minimum wage. We can only imagine the impact such a change has had on the prospects of employment for the young and unskilled.

Continue reading “The $15 Minimum Wage and the End of Teen Work”

FORE MATE

Looks like Llpoh moved to a country with a bunch of free shitters. They like their shrimp on the barbie and golf, but work not so much. You get more of what you incentivize. It’s really that simple. The poor guy who can’t work on Sundays because of golf has enough trouble already.

Jobs wanted in Australia – but not if they clash with golf

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government is tired of unemployed people declining a job because it may interfere with their golf plans or dreams of becoming an actor.

The government plans to tighten its rules on who qualifies for unemployment benefits to encourage the jobless — including some with creative excuses to stay off the job — to go to work.

“Australia’s income support system is there as a safety net for people who genuinely cannot find a job — not as an option for those who simply refuse to work,” Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said in a statement.

The penalty for refusing a job offer without a good excuse is eight weeks without a welfare check, but three out of four unemployed Australians who refused jobs last year managed to keep their checks. Australia’s jobless rate is 6 percent.

The Employment Department on Tuesday released samples of reasons job hunters have given for remaining unemployed. They include:

— A 58-year-old man was not prepared to work for three hours on Sundays because that was when he played golf.

— A 19-year-old man turned down a job “to follow his dream of becoming an actor.”

— A 26-year-old man refused a job because “he doesn’t work with chickens.”

— A 50-year-old woman declined a receptionist position because of a “bad smell” in the office.

— A 33-year-old man rejected car washing as “too difficult.”

— A 23-year-old man refused to become a driver’s assistant because he wanted to drive.

The basic unemployment benefit in Australia is 261.70 Australian dollars (about $190) a week. It’s higher for those with dependent children and in need of rent assistance.

The government wants to close a loophole that allows the unemployed to refuse jobs while continuing to collect a welfare checks, but the Senate is resisting the changes.

The opposition argues that the government already has the discretion to withhold checks from people without reasonable excuses for refusing to work. It says the government’s proposal would remove any discretion in cases where withholding the benefit could leave a person homeless or suffering other harm.

“THIS is why Americans are voting for Donald Trump.”

The quote in the title was actually spoken by Stuart Varney on Fux News on Monday.

Pray for the Top Dogs at Carrier. After all, they said it was a “very difficult decision”. Poor guys …..

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Watch American Workers Being Told Their Jobs Are Being Sent To Mexico: “F*CK YOU!”

Posted on February 12, 2016 by DCWhispers

For years, Democrats have allowed this to happen. Republicans have allowed this to happen.

And now the American Middle Class has had enough.

Continue reading ““THIS is why Americans are voting for Donald Trump.””

Impact of automation puts up to 85% of jobs in developing countries at risk

Via Kurzweil

The risk of jobs being replaced by automation varies by country (credit: World Bank Development Report, 2016)

A new report from the Oxford Martin School and Citi considers the risks of job automation to developing countries, estimated to range from 55% in Uzbekistan to 85% in Ethiopia — a substantial share in major emerging economies, including China and India (77% and 69% respectively).

The report, Technology at Work v2.0: The Future Is Not What It Used to Be, builds on 2013 research by Oxford Martin School’s Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne, who found that nearly half of U.S. jobs could be at risk of computerization (as KurzweilAI reported), and on the first Technology at Work report, published in 2015.

The Future is Not What is Used to Be provides in-depth analysis of the vulnerabilities of countries and cities to job automation, explores what automation will mean for traditional models of economic growth, and considers how governments can prepare for the potentially disruptive impacts of job automation on society.