New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows a large increase in the number of U.S. workers who took part-time positions for economic reasons compared to the previous month.
The BLS released its monthly employment situation report on Friday, which showed that 452,000 additional part-time jobs were added in June for economic reasons, indicating that more Americans are unable to find full-time employment or that businesses are unable to give workers enough hours to qualify as full-time. The numbers come as President Joe Biden tours the country, attempting to convince Americans that his economic policy, being dubbed “Bidenomics,” is working for the American people. (RELATED: EJ ANTONI: ‘Bidenomics’ Can Be Summed Up In Just One Word)
“This tells us that Bidenomics is strangling the labor market. People are increasingly trying to shift from part-time work to full-time work, but businesses are doing exactly the opposite,” E.J. Antoni, research fellow in the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in reference to the 452,000 additional part-time jobs in June. “The reduction in full-time job openings is very common in the months preceding a recession.”
#JobsReport for Jun is lackluster and contains #recession indicators…
209k payrolls added – lowest in 2 and a half yrs
Unemployment rate: 3.6%, up 0.2% YTD— EJ Antoni (@RealEJAntoni) July 7, 2023
Pete Earle, economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, also takes a dim view of the president’s economic policy, attributing past job gains to the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s difficult to know what Bidenomics stands for,” Earle said in a statement to the DCNF. “For years the current administration has taken credit for rising job numbers which were driven by the ongoing pandemic recovery, not pro-growth policies. The resilient consumer spending was fostered by pandemic-era expansionary monetary policy and fiscal stimulus, both of which took place under the previous administration.”
“The only policies one could characterize Bidenomics as clearly dedicated to are tremendous government spending and skyrocketing regulations,” Earle said.
Jobs underperformed expectations in June, with the U.S. adding only 209,000 jobs as opposed to the 225,000 jobs predicted by a Reuters survey of economists. The number was also well below the report from the private payroll firm ADP, which showed that there were 497,000 new private employee jobs added in June.
The BLS also revised down its jobs number estimations from May and April, showing the country added 110,000 fewer jobs than were previously reported.
Earle believes that the jobs report shows signs that interest rates still need to be raised after the Federal Reserve announced a pause in its June Federal Open Market Committee meeting, keeping the rate between 5% and 5.25%.
“The increase in part-time jobs and the rise in the underemployment rate reveal growing slack in the job market,” Earle told the DCNF. “But the year-over-year rise in average hourly earnings and the participation rate for 21-54 year olds, which hit a 21-year high in June, will bolster the Fed’s hawkish posture. Interest rates have higher to go.”
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