By Rick Manning – For the second month in a row, the employment situation released by the Obama administration reveals that our nation’s economy is in severe distress. Last month’s data was universally described as disastrous and June’s is even worse when you look behind the already bad topline numbers.
The number of people the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not classify as being in the labor force but instead are described as “marginally attached to it” skyrocketed to almost 2.7 million, a jump of 474,000 in June alone. This wipes out a year of gains by the economy in this key measurement of potential workers’ belief that getting a job is possible. Incredibly, Obama’s “recovery” has increased the number of people who are “marginally attached to the workforce” by 89,000 over the past year.
One of the few bright spots from the May employment report was continuing evidence that the number of discouraged workers (who are also not counted as unemployed, even though they don’t have jobs) was dropping rapidly. Unfortunately, the gains made in May have been almost entirely wiped out in June, showing that the May gains were likely nothing more than a statistical mirage.
The 9.2 percent and rising unemployment rate is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the misery facing America’s workers, who have not only found their cost of living rising, but are increasingly giving up on the hope of being able to take care of their families by getting a job.
It is time for Obama to change course immediately, and come to agreement with House Speaker Boehner by pushing through a bipartisan economic stimulus package that will cut federal government spending dramatically, cap the spending of government agencies in the future at 18 percent of our nation’s gross domestic product and pass a balanced-budget amendment through Congress so the states can decide whether to include it into the U.S. Constitution.
Additionally, Obama should immediately and unilaterally direct his agencies to cut their spending levels to fiscal 2007 levels, and further direct them to cease and desist from rulemaking that hamstrings the job-producing private sector.
Stubborn adherence to his failed massive government spending and top-down regulatory policies could permanently damage our nation’s economy and the American workers who depend upon the job creators for their livelihood.
Let’s hope that this disastrous news about the direction of our nation’s economy finally wakes Obama up to change his course, so hope can be restored to America’s workers.
Rick Manning is the communications director for Americans for Limited Government. You can follow Rick on Twitter at @RManning957. This post was originally featured at The Hill’s Pundits Blog.
