Economy Gained 431,000 Jobs In March, You'd Think Maybe Biden Could Get Some F*cking Credit
But the shelves are ... oh, full. Something has to be terrible about this!
The monthly jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is out for March 2022, and it shows the economy gained 431,000 jobs. The unemployment rate declined again, to 3.6 percent, down from 3.8 percent for February. In addition, the February jobs report, which had been pretty damned impressive already, was revised upward, from the initial report of 678,000 new jobs to a nice round 750,000.
As we've been saying pretty much every time the jobs report comes out, the initial numbers will almost always be revised (sometimes up, sometimes down) because of the way the BLS collects the data. It's not a glitch; it's just how the stats come in from employers. So it's entirely likely that March's numbers will also see a revision, come the next monthly report on the first Friday of May.
Read More: Bureau Of Labor Statistics Had One Job. Is That Job One Or 19 Jobs?
We want you to keep that in mind, because already this morning we're seeing reporting like this bullshit at CNBC , suggesting that nearly half a million new jobs is somehow terrible news for Joe Biden, because the initial number is just a bit shy of the Dow Jones forecast of 490,000 new jobs, and a lot less than the revised February report.
You know, the one that was revised upward, as has happened with jobs reports for several months now. But this one, wow, it's so disappointing, and it arrives "Amid soaring inflation and worries about a looming recession," to boot. Fuck lazy financial journalists when they pull that shit, because if a dopey liberal arts major like me knows that any given month's jobs report is at best a first draft, there's no excuse for alleged financial reporters to act like it's a clear portent of doom.
By contrast, here's the lede from the New York Times story on the March jobs report:
A continued torrent of consumer demand, paired with an emerging atmosphere of normalcy as coronavirus caseloads and health restrictions fade away, led to a burst of new jobs last month, giving reason for optimism despite the year’s increasingly uncertain economic outlook. [...]
The unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, down from 3.8 percent a month earlier and just a touch higher than its levels right before the pandemic.
The Times also notes right up front that the report revised the previous two months' reports upward by 95,000 jobs. Thanks for the helpful perspective there!
Even more irritating? That CNBC story , after suggesting in the first paragraph that we're steering full speed onto the rocks of a recession, also says just a few paragraphs later that the economic waters are smooth and pretty inviting:
Average hourly earnings, a closely watched inflation metric, increased 0.4% on the month, in line with expectations. On a 12-month basis, pay increased nearly 5.6%, just above the estimate. [...]
“All in all, nothing shocking about this report. There was nothing that was really surprising,” said Simona Mocuta, chief economist at State Street Global Advisors. “Even if this report came in at zero, I would still say this is a very healthy labor market.”
Oh. Good to mention that, we guess! So maybe we'll hold off on that crate of End Times Freeze Dried Meals, then.
The Times notes that the labor market is pretty darn strong, in fact:
Job openings and the number of workers voluntarily leaving their positions remain near record levels, among the measures showing that demand for workers is the highest in decades. [...]
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More urban office workers appear to be headed back to their desks, giving a boost to hard-hit downtown economies, and the drop in coronavirus cases has prompted many people to resume tourism and in-person entertainment.
The average gain for the last six months is 600,000. The economy has recuperated more than 90 percent of the 22 million jobs lost at the peak of the pandemic’s impact on the economy in the spring of 2020 — a far swifter rebound than forecasters initially expected.
We can only assume, then, that Fox News will report tonight that trans kids learning critical race theory are making the price of milk skyrocket somehow.
Speaking of rightwing economic takes, we received an email today from the weirdo cat ladies without cats at the antifeminist "Independent Women's Forum," who offer their own unique take on the good economic news: Today's jobs report, the Ladies Against Women say, is proof that"Women Are Returning To Work Without Democrats’ Universal Childcare Plans,"so stick that in your socialism and smoke it, Joe Biden!
Patrice Onwuka, the "director of the Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) at Independent Women’s Forum," offered a statement that celebrated the report's small uptick in women's labor force participation (58.2 percent, still below pre-pandemic levels), and also noted that if women never return to work that's simply because the pandemic has given them so much time with their wonderful children that they've realized how much they love being mommies. It certainly can't mean that women need childcare, heavens no!
Onwuka insists that all the growth in the economy is simply the natural result of the end of the pandemic downturn, and is absolutely "not the result of the White House’s over-the-top spending agenda."
Mmm-hmm, sure. This is where we remind you that real economists credit Biden's pandemic relief bill with saving the middle and working classes from devastation, and for that matter, with the faster than expected pace of recovery.
Read More: SHUT UP LARRY. American Middle, Working Classes Got Some $ In Their Pockets!
BREAKING: Joe Biden's Trickle Up Economics WORKED!
And since schools are open again, says Onwuka, every parent who wants to work can now send the kids to school, so therefore nobody will ever need universal pre-K or federally funded childcare, either. PROBLEM SOLVED, PANDEMIC OVER, no thanks to Joe Biden, OK?
For perspective, however, you may want to remember that the Independent Women's Forum got its start as an astroturf group called "Women for Clarence Thomas," to suggest that ladies loved the filthy sexual harasser, and that it'sfunded by a bunch of rightwing pro-business foundations, including of course the Koch network of dark money.
The IWF has opposed the Violence Against Women Act (which keeps women from being strong on their own, you know), insists working families would be better off if we scrapped the minimum wage, and explains that women thrive most when corporations are unfettered by regulations of any kind. After all, the less McDonalds has to pay, the more women can get jobs, and if daycare centers aren't burdened by limits on child-to-staff ratios, they'll be more affordable! One or two people to look after 30 or 50 toddlers in a basement should be plenty, especially if they turn up the TV loud enough.
You'll pardon us if we aren't terribly convinced, then, that women are doing just great post-pandemic, and that the American family would be destroyed by universal pre-K and affordable childcare.
Anyway, here's Joe Biden to talk about the positive jobs report. We've cued it up to the start of his remarks:
[ Bureau of Labor Statistics / NYT / CNBC / Independent Women's Forum ]
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If you read Alternet today, there's an article about a study in which Fox Viewers were paid to watch CNN and their attitudes changed. I believe that too, but maybe because they were relaxed bc their beliefs weren't being directly contradicted. ?
Interesting.