Where Are Those Jobs? The Real Jobs?

The GOP House Conferences again focuses on jobs. That is where the focus should be not the government subsidizing unemployment. "For months, Americans have been asking President Obama, where are the jobs? With a national unemployment rate of 9.5% -- and in some areas of Florida, Indiana and more in double digits -- will the Democrats take responsibility for their bad economic policies? Yesterday, President Obama gave a speech and blamed Republicans for some of the country's unemployment problems -- but how long can the blame game continue? Americans are hurting and any number of speeches won't put them back to work."

Today, TMFRedwood at The Motley Fool rightly focuses on Employment verses Unemployment.

[I]t's better to pay attention to the "employment rate" rather than the "unemployment rate." If you stop looking for a job for a month you are booted out of the labor force, and hence don't show up in the ranks of the unemployed. But of course you are still without a job, it's just that "unemployment" (wink, wink) is now reduced. These shenanigans are why headline unemployment is around 10% whereas a more accurate estimate puts total unemployment at 22%.

No one pays much attention to the amount of people not in the labor force, so here's a little attention. Total people not in the labor force jumped by 4 million in the past three years (to 82.9 million from an average of 78.7 million in 2007). This is an increase to 34.9% from 33.9% of the civilian noninstitutional population. And it's in a census year that created roughly hundreds of thousands of jobs, not to mention the expansion of government over the past few years that added many more jobs.

Lots of people in the private sector don't have jobs, and . . . there are many private sector jobs out there indirectly supported by the government through stimulus, propping up of the housing market, government expansion, or even failure of banks to recognize losses. Unfortunately, the economic situation in this country is still dire and the headline unemployment number doesn't come close to describing the situation we're in for two reasons 1) it is artificially low and 2) it papers over the quality of jobs - government jobs are less valuable yet are not distinguished in the numbers.

Last year, House Republicans took the floor and asked President Obama and Democrats -- where are the jobs? Today, are still asking! The Obama Administration and Democrat Congressional leadership is expanding "government funded" jobs and using government funds to underwrite contracts and projects that temporarily create jobs. But these same Democrats are reducing and or restricting the growth of the private sector which creates jobs that are not dependent on you the taxpayers to fund. We need real jobs. [Video Below]

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