U.s. Economy Gains And Jobs

The unemployment rate has dramatically increased over the last several months. This increase has created many complications for the American people. Although the United States economy has created over 7 million jobs, there is still a long way to go until the economy is back on track.

Nationwide government officials often wonder how this country is going to overcome unemployment, and the common misconception is through the provision of low wage jobs. By providing people with some source of income, congress believes millions will no longer depend on government aid. In actuality, however, providing minimum wage work is not going to solve such a drastic problem now, in the future, or at all for that matter. Minimum wage ($5.15), while serving at the socially acceptable pay standard, does not even compare with the nationwide ?living wage? of $10.18 (Ramisch). It is becoming increasingly more difficult to survive on such tragic wages, yet there is often little debate because it is money, and every little bit matters when it comes to paying bills.

The health of the current U.S. economy appears to be growing gradually. The second quarter real GDP growth was 3.7% and the unemployment rate declined to 5.3%. The U.S Federal Reserve (Fed) is expected to raise interest rates in the near future when it sees clear signs of strong economic growth and improvements in the job market.

Mike Durant once said, “Making it more expensive to create new jobs is a perfect way to guarantee fewer of them.” The recent, “Raise the Wage” campaigns have sparked an interest in many low-wage workers. However, those who support this initiative are unaware of the economic problems that will arise if this is successful. Several cities have already raised their minimum wages and some, like Seattle, are raising it as high as $15 per hour. Currently, supporters of this campaign argue that the government should implement this increase federally. However, doing so will have broad and adverse financial implications. Ever since the Great Depression, the minimum wage has been in effect — to reduce poverty and solidify that

Six years after the end of the 2008 recession, the pay for American workers remains at the same rate as when the recession began. Low wage jobs have dominated the job growth associated with the post-recession recovery. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour remains decades out of date. “The federal minimum wage has lost more than 30% of its value and would be more than $10.59 per hour today if it had kept pace with the cost of living over the past forty years”. (“Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, 2013).

Before discussing the potential implications of raising the federal minimum wage, it is important to understand why such action is necessary. By historical standards, the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 is fairly low (Weissmann 1). Adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage today is over three dollars less than when its real value peaked in 1968 (ibid). Although many state and local governments have passed laws setting the minimum wage above that of the federal level, the majority of states have not, despite rising levels of GDP, productivity and cost of living. Since 1968, the average American, at all levels of income and in almost all occupations, has worked 163 more hours per year, the equivalent of a month (Schor 26). Additionally, worker productivity has doubled since that time, as indicated by Real GDP per hour worked in the United States (“Real GDP”). So although the average worker is twice as productive now as he was in 1968, his real wage earned is

Mike Durant once said, “Making it more expensive to create new jobs is a perfect way to guarantee fewer of them.” The recent, “Raise the Wage” campaigns have sparked an interest in many low-wage workers. However, those who support this initiative are unaware of the economic problems that will arise if this is successful. Several cities have already raised their minimum wages and some, like Seattle, are raising it as high as $15 per hour. Currently, supporters of this campaign argue that the government should implement this increase federally. However, doing so will have broad and adverse financial implications. Ever since the Great Depression, the minimum wage has been in effect — to reduce poverty and solidify that employees

If the government will listen then, “the raise in wage will not hurt employment like many think” (Editorial Board). If we raise the wage according to the shift in economy then it should only help the economy. The increase in the economy will open up more opportunities for people in return to retain steady work. In reality, “at least a $11 an hour would be needed to raise people above the poverty line” (Editorial Board). That would be a $3.75 increase from the low bomb of $7.25, Americans would make about $23,00 per year vs about $15,000 per year The boost in pay will further the growth of businesses and employment in the American economy. The economy has been in a tailspin before and we want to keep the unemployment low, but also allow people to make enough

wage would contribute to a better economic growth pattern, and reverse the trend of financial

According to Staff review of the Economic Situation for January 28-29, the economic growth rate picked up in the second half of 2013. There was a gradual increase in the total payroll employment and a decline in unemployment rate. Consumer price inflation was still performing poorly than expected, while longer-term inflation expectations remained stable.

For supporters of the wage being raised they are excited for what the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors stated. “White House’s Council of Economic Advisors came out with a briefing that was trumpeted for its claim that we could raise the minimum wage by almost 40 percent (from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour) with no loss in jobs.” (Dorfman, “The Minimum Wage Debate Should Be

The unemployment rate averaged 8.5% in 1975, almost 10% in 1982, and has been above 8.8% for more than two years, with little evidence of any improvement ahead.”

While there are expectations of a yearly gain of nearly 2.3 million net new jobs, the unemployment rate is still very high i.e. around 6.5 percent. The lower-than-expected job growth is fueled by various factors including government hiring, weather, and Obamacare. Actually, similar to December, January had a lower-than expected increase in job opportunities since only 113,000 jobs were created. However, the rate of unemployment still reduced to 6.6 percent in this month despite of the growth in labor force. The current rate of unemployment is the lowest in U.S. since the 2008 recession because more people are leaving the labor force instead of finding jobs.

In this presentation I will compare two articles on the latest jobs report published by the U.S. Department of Labor. I will contrast Danielle Paquette’s article “Job growth slumped in August” with Nelson D. Schwartz’s article “Manufacturing Is a Bright Spot in a Subdued Jobs Report”. I will first begin by simply looking at the tone of each title, as that is the first thing that catches the reader's eye.

The unemployment rate in the United States has improved dramatically over the last two years, from a high of 8.3% in July 2012, to a low of 6.6% in January 2014. In October of 2012, the civilian labor force increased from 578,000 to 155.6 million, labor force participation increased up to 63.8%, and total employment overall rose by 410,000! Since then, the unemployment rate has been falling at a stable rate due to a political push from Washington DC and new employment initiatives. The inflation rate over the last 2 years has been relatively stably, with a few major increases and decreases in 2012 and 2013. It reached a high of 2.3% in June of 2012, and reached a low of 1.0% at the end of 2013. The federal interest rate has remained at a constant .25% over the past few years.