TGIF?

"Weekends, he explained, "are a luxury the bottom 30 percent can't afford."

millennials, employment, the jobless, and food

A glut of articles on millennials and employment seems to have surfaced soon after graduation:

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/careers/big-chill-millennials-learning-harsh-reality-workplace-n95606

http://mashable.com/2014/05/02/millennials-april-jobs-report/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/05/10/cnbc-millenials-job-market/8914435/

http://www.today.com/money/millennials-lazy-entitled-or-maybe-just-young-2D79664367

Meanwhile Reuters notes that jobless claims are at a 7-year low, but in another article says Americans are now so "frugal" that it's hard for food companies to raise prices and retain customers.

I have no data on which of these writers was paid for their work, but I can assure you I received no compensation for this blog.

tales of retail

Two articles on retail work in America recently caught my eye: here and here.

the 28 percent

According to a January 2014 Gallup poll, only 28 percent of us are satisfied with the economy.

glass half full?

The contrarian indicator of all contrarian indicators is out. More economists see a "glass half full," so I guess they didn't get the memo that less than 43 percent of working-age Americans report a true full-time job, continuing a downward trend of recent years. Only 63 percent of us have work of any kind, the lowest percentage ever recorded, and this number has shrunk rather steadily the past twelve years. So either a huge portion of working-age Americans have happily removed themselves from the world of employment, or these optimistic economists are looking at their own stock portfolios much more closely than the lives of their fellow Americans.

full-time work

According to a metric tracked by Gallup since 2011, less than 44 percent of American adults have a full-time job. Although it will always be a goal to increase this percentage, to encourage employers to understand why the stability of full-time work benefits both worker and company, it's also beholden on all of us teaching career-prep college courses to make students aware of this and teach strategies for navigating the world of contingent or permanent part-time employment.

Meanwhile, CNN just "broke the news" that the "U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October, more than analysts expected. Unemployment rate rose to 7.3% from 7.2%." Such substantial job gains coupled with a rise in the unemployment rate indicates that there are many more millions of people who'd gladly work were there opportunity to do so.

And here's another piece that includes charts to confirm, once again, that it is a bad time for younger workers in America.

American unemployment

The New York Times has a somewhat accurate portrayal of the situation in this op-ed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/opinion/14tue1.html?hp

But then again, some of their statistics fail to give us a clear idea of the American economy or the desperation experiencd by millions of American workers. The article tells us that the pay of the median college-educated male is $72,000, but I bet you anything that does not include the millions of college-educated males in America who are no longer counted as working unless they are still counted as unemployed (actively looking for work within the last 6 or 9 months). But discouraged males, willing house husbands, college-educated men who have been "bought" off the rolls with disability, as well as our imprisoned, mentally ill, couched at Mom's, or drunk in older sibling's basement are not counted.

For women, this median is only $52,000, so yes, they most likely experience greater want than men (on average). But again, all the same factors are in play. Not counted? For example, married women with college degrees who might like to work but have become "discouraged workers" or stay-at-home Moms because no one beyond Starbucks and the local collections agency seem to be hiring. So they have accepted not being in the workforce although to call this a "choice" is deceiving.

Another group of workers who just recently rallied to raise the false medians would be Temple University's adjunct faculty, who by trying to protect themselves, lost their employment. Presumably, we'll have to wait 6 or 9 months until they are no longer counted in the employment statistics, but once they and their below-the-median salaries disappear (no, not in the Stalinist sense), we can all rest easy knowing that median American income is on the rise.

If the major American newspapers can not be counted on to give reliable and accurate pictures of American employment, is it any wonder that their employees are also increasingly fortifying the false medians of American employment statistics through layoffs and attrition?