Two tales of American Jobs

[ringmastery]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/22/business/yourmoney/22view.html

FOR more than a year, Bush administration officials and Republicans in Congress have seized on an intriguing statistical puzzle to suggest that job creation in the United States may be much stronger than it appears at first glance.

The puzzle is the enormous divergence between the two surveys that are used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to measure job creation and unemployment. The payroll survey, which is based on a monthly poll of 400,000 employers, shows a loss of more than two million jobs since 2001. The household survey, based on questions posed to people in 50,000 households, shows an increase of more than 500,000 jobs over the same period.

If the payroll survey is correct, Mr. Bush is on track to be the first president since Herbert Hoover to complete a term in office with fewer jobs than when he started. If the household survey is correct, Mr. Bush can claim credit for creating jobs despite the blows of a recession, terrorist attacks and two wars.

The household survey also seems to support a political theory: that many people dropped from the company payrolls are not unemployed but rather self-employed. While the payroll survey suggests economic malaise, the household survey implies entrepreneurial energy.

"The household survey shows that we're at an all-time high in employment,'' said Senator Don Nickles, Republican of Oklahoma and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, at a hearing this month. "It shows that, at least if you look at this trend, the employment situation has improved rather substantially.''

[mhr]

1. We Can't All Be Entrepreneurs, Some Of Us Have No Stomach For It

eom

[xray s]

2. A lot of people are trying to go it alone

Self employment is definitely up.

The reason that is not so good is;

1. Lack of benefits. Health Insurance, retirement, disability insurance.

2. Lower income.

3. The rate of failure of new small businesses is very high.

What we have to focus on is income, including the value of benefits in that mix, and not just the employment % number.

When you look at the whole picture, is ain't very pretty.

[freeforall]

3. Yeah right!

Everybody who is out of work and trying to go it alone (or not) is now an "entrepreneur."

[cyclezealot]

4. Yeah, Look at Tijuana

Lots of entrepreneurs. All those chiclets dealers at the border are showing capitalism how to operate in the 21 st century.