JOBS, JOBS, EVERYWHERE...:

Revised! Job Creation Better Than Ever (William W. Beach and Tim Kane, Ph.D., August 5, 2005, Heritage.org)

When the 2001 recession hit the U.S. economy, the total number of employed Americans dropped by 2 million over the course of the year, according to the BLS household survey, while the size of the labor force remained steady. But since the beginning of 2002, total employment has grown by over 6 million, which matches the nearly 6 million net new members of the U.S. labor force.

Even so, some observers of the current economic scene worry that job creation is not keeping up with the growth in the population of new job seekers. That is, are U.S. companies and governments creating enough new jobs for all of the young people entering the labor force from high school and college? The answer is yes. The economy produced an average of 179,000 jobs per month over the last year, whereas the number of 20-54 year olds has grown by 77,000 a month in recent years, according to Census estimates. Older cohorts have grown even more, but they have lower workforce participation rates, which is the gist of the analysis by Federal Reserve economist Julie Hotchkiss.

This kind of strong employment situation really takes the hot air out of the sails of economic pessimists.

Of course, just the adding of six million new employables makes us unique.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 9, 2005 8:12 PM