PRESS RELEASE
Ongoing Media Coverage of Jobs Crash in May
June 4, 2016 (EIRNS)—There continues to be wide coverage of the shocking jobs data for May, reported Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. John Crudele, writing in Saturday’s New York Post, says "ugly jobs report is even worse than it looks," noting that of the 38,000 net jobs created that month, only 25,000 were in the private sector and furthermore, the March and April stats were reduced by 59,000 jobs when more data was later reviewed. The participation in the labor force rate fell by another 0.2% (Crudele didn’t bother to mention that there are now close to 95 million working-age Americans who are not in the labor force), he noted, and added that the Wall Street fall on Friday reflected greater worry about the real economic downturn than the "good news" that the Fed won’t likely raise rates in June at the FOMC.
CSN News picked up on the real horror, headlining its coverage "Record 94,708,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Drops in May," covering the fact that the 62.2% labor participation rate is near a 38-year low. Since Obama took office, the number of working-age people not included in the labor force went from 80,529,000 to 94,708,000—an increase of 14,179,000. The labor participation rate has fallen for the past seven years, since a peak in February 2009, the first full month of the Obama administration, from the peak of 65.7% down to the current 62.6. The BLS said that in May, 5,923,000 people were seeking work, up by 130,000 from the previous month. The unemployment rate for teens first entering the labor force was listed by BLS at 16%. There are also, according to the May statistics, 6.4 million people working part time "for economic reasons"—i.e., they cannot find full-time work. That number increased from April to May by 468,000. Durable goods employment in the manufacturing sector fell by 18,000 in May.
In the face of this reality, President Obama traveled to Indiana last week and delivered a lying speech on the U.S. economic recovery under his administration, claiming he halved the unemployment rate and oversaw a boost in manufacturing.
