This morning on the drive in to work I was listening to Sqwak Box, as I do most mornings. At the 8:30am the jobless claims numbers were released for the previous week. But something happened this morning that was not expected, the jobless claims was higher than expected, by several thousand (read the story from Marketwatch). For the record, I am not an economist, I am just an average person that takes interest in what is going on in our economy, because it has a tremendous impact on everything that we do. The jobless claims numbers were released and the pre-market stock numbers dropped. Why, because the stock traders were not expecting the increase in jobless claims and maybe it caused a sense of fear or uncertainty?
The biggest problem with reading these numbers, in my opinion are two things:
1) Two weeks ago the jobless claims were revised from 380,000 to 388,000.
2) The weekly jobless claims that was released today came in at 386,000, up about 7,000 higher than expected, but these numbers factor in seasonal employees.
The problem that I have with the seasonal employees is just that, they are seasonal. It is like factoring into the equation construction employees that file when the weather is bad. The jobless claims is always going to fluctuate, but I think until we change the way that the unemployment numbers are being reported, i.e. only the people that are currently receiving unemployment are factored into the number, not those that have given up on looking for jobs and/or those whose benefits have run out, will we ever have a true gauge on our workforce.
I have seen friends recently that have been included in the jobless claims numbers week after week and it just makes me feel very blessed to be in a situation where I am able to provide for my family. And I can only speak for myself, but those friends of mine that have been out of work, would have given anything for a job, but they just aren’t there. Employers are not hiring right now because of the uncertainty of our economy. Many were told time and time again, wait until after the election and we see what happens. Wait? People can not wait for 7 months without a job. People need to work now. Our country needs to take the necessary steps to get our workforce back employed. The “shovel ready projects” that President Obama promoted and I think that he put it best, were not “shovel ready” after all. The Keystone Pipeline would have employed 20,000 people, but that was shut down. And this isn’t an attack against the President. But our country needs leaders that can help get our workforce employed again. We need to create tax incentives for small businesses to hire more workers. We need to give big companies tax breaks to bring their manufacturing jobs back over to the US and hire Americans that want to work, that need to work. President Obama inherited problems from President Bush, no question about it. And I think that both are equally to blame. I think that it is time to put politics and political gain to the side and let’s do what is right for our country.
Look at it from a real and practical view: the more people that are out of work, means that there is less discretionary income being spent by people. That means that there are less family vacations being taken. There are fewer people going out to eat. Fewer cars being purchased. Fewer homes being purchased. According to an article that I recently read, schools are sending home at record numbers, food for children to eat over the weekend, OVER THE WEEKEND, because their families can not afford for them to eat. It is all tightly woven together. No job = No money!
So tonight, when I go home and hug my kids and I will be grateful that I am not part of the jobless claims numbers this week. And I am sure that at some point in time, we will face a similar economic crisis in this country again and I will have to sit my boys down and explain all of this to them. Explain why their friends families are losing their homes. Explain why we are not going out to eat as much or going on vacation.
If you are out of work this week, I hope that you are able to find work soon. And if you are like me, who has a good job, feel blessed and don’t take it for granted, because it could be you tomorrow explaining to your children about the economy and why you can not go out to eat tonight, because you recently lost your job.