Shonda Sheen (r) talks with AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker about the jobs crisis. Sheen was laid off in December 2009 and is about to run out of unemployment benefits.
At a forum on Monday sponsored by the AFL-CIO, speakers decried the thinking that more deregulation and tax cuts are the way out of economic problems.
The organized labor sponsored event – The Jobs Crisis — Moving to Action: A Dialogue between Workers and Policymakers – came after last Friday’s dismal unemployment numbers – officially 9.2% in June. The bad numbers – April and May employment numbers were also revised downward – caught virtually all economists and pundits by surprise. Only18,000 jobs were added to payrolls. (See U.S. Unemployment Rises Again in June to an Official 9.2%)
This means that more than 14 million Americans – former taxpayers – are now unemployed, with at least another 10 million underemployed. The average length unemployment is now the highest on record. And the federal budget deficit is $929 billion for the first eight months of fiscal year 2011.
Since two-thirds of the economy of the United States is based on consumer spending, no wonder corporations are reluctant to hire. There is just too much uncertainty in the economy, too much uncertainty in Washington. We could be heading for another recession while politicians dicker.
U.S. auto sales in June declined for the second straight month but increased 7% compared to an admittedly weak 2010. Earthquake induced inventory shortages at major Japanese automakers continued to be a major factor in sluggish sales, but marketing executives denied what could be the beginning of another recession. Worrisome was the decline in the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate (SAAR) to an anemic 11.45 million light vehicles, the lowest it has been in more than a year. Retail sales dipped to a mere 9 million units. (See U.S. Auto Sales Decline in June as Shortages and Cautious Consumers Result in a Weak Market and Overall Economy)
“We cannot get our fiscal house in order until we get America back to work,” said Heather Boushey, Senior Economist for Center for American Progress. “Yet the debt-ceiling conversation is happening even as the June jobs numbers show that the labor market is moving in the wrong direction. This should be a sobering wake-up call to policy makers that addressing the jobs crisis should be priority number one.”
Speaker after speaker at the forum worked similar themes. Politicians – translation mostly Republicans – won’t acknowledge that working people – translation including union members who support Democrats – drive the economy as consumers. Without good jobs or shared prosperity, corporations won’t spend and our economy can’t prosper.
“We have a jobs crisis of epic proportions and in order to solve it – we must create a movement of enormous proportions,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “This summer working people will be out holding politicians accountable. But that is just the beginning of what we must do. Workers and communities must work together for an economy built on good jobs.”
“One of the keys to continuing our economic recovery is growth,” said Senator Al Franken from Minnesota. “By creating high-wage, high-skill jobs, we can grow our middle class and our economy, improve people’s lives, and expand our tax base at the same time. My partners in the labor community know that job creation is the smartest investment we can make as a nation.”
If only such talk were actual jobs, then all Americans would be working, building the economy and supporting government by paying taxes. If you are keeping score more than eight million jobs were lost under President Bush. President Obama spent almost a $1 trillion to restore 2.5 million jobs.
Notably absent in the remarks was the obvious – to me – observation that neither political party appears to be interested in actually working on job creation instead of political posturing designed to sway voters in the 2012 election.
