What we have here is a massive growth, dynamic growth in the number of people who are employed. We see a dramatic drop in the number of people who are unemployed.
Americans for Limited Government President Richard Manning is a weekly guest on the Michael Yaffee Radio Program on WVNN radio in Huntsville, AL. This week they talked about the most recent jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Michael Yaffee: According to The Wall Street Journal hiring slowed in December to 199,000 new jobs, though the U.S. added a record number of positions in 2021 and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9%. Last month’s payroll gains left the U.S. economy with about 6.4 million more jobs and at the end of 2020 but the nation remains 3.6 million jobs short of pre pandemic levels.
Rick Manning: I just fundamentally disagree with the Wall Street Journal’s analysis. I’m going to provide a little bit of an alternative vision. Most of the growth of employment has occurred since June of 2021, which is when Republican states stopped paying people to be unemployed. What we have here is actually a massive growth, dynamic growth in the number of people who are employed. We see a dramatic drop in the number of people who are unemployed.
Our economy and our labor force is being transformed to a gig economy where people are independent contractors but they won’t show up in any of the reports. As a result, the Wall Street Journal and others are doing a terrible job of actually looking at the labor force and reflecting the transformation labor force. At least a significant part of the labor force, eight to 10 percent has moved away from traditional work towards a more of a self-employed model.
Michael Yaffee: Now do you think that transformation is a good thing? Because I guarantee the Democrats are going to say ‘no.’ They want labor unions to get involved. What do you think?
Richard Manning: I think people are having freedom to make money the way they want to make their money and spend their labor how they want to spend it. As long as they’re doing something productive that generates what somebody else is willing to pay for, I think that’s great. It’s a natural outcome of market economy. And it’s a natural outcome of the of the 5G economy that we’re entering into. And we better just get used to it because whether we like it or not, it is reality.
Think about the person who now can stay home and homeschool their kids while still making a living by doing medical billing at night. Who’s that bad for? It’s bad for commercial real estate. So, if you’re investing commercial real estate, not good for you. It provides more flexibility and there’s always going to be jobs. COVID has created an environment where more people are opting for this environment, because they’ve discovered that being at home, taking care of the kids, doing homeschooling, whatever it is, is a value that they put ahead of going to an office. If it results in more people taking care of their own kids, that’s a great thing.
Michael Yaffee: Yeah, I totally agree with you. That it seems to be a good thing because it’s more people, like you said working for themselves. They have flexibility. They can even be more creative, be at home with their kids more. I can’t argue with that.
But are you worried that Democrats are going to exploit the transformation to the gig economy and say, ‘This is why we need universal government health care, because people are no longer getting health care from their employer?’
Richard Manning: Well, yeah, I think that’s probably true. And obviously the best way to get there is to have a little market-based healthcare system. If the Republicans had done their job and wiped Obamacare off the books, we’d have an opportunity to do that.
Click below to listen to the full interview.
