Obama may not be running the show. Hillary was running things at the Whitehouse until Bill Clinton brought in Dick Morris.
You have to remember that the president is simply a puppet in government the promises that Obama has stated were unfortunately empty. Remember that if something does not satisfy congress it will not go through. however, I think employment will rise once our economy goes back to normal.
Why would they underestimate? They are probably overestimating in that there are people enjoying two incomes. There are people making money on the side. There are people retiring from government jobs and turning around and getting hired back again collecting a pay check and a retirement check. Also I don't sense that all the illegal aliens have left yet so I believe there are easily more jobs than there are legal US workers. BTW, the job market looks pretty good; I just pulled up Craigslist for San Diego and found almost 400 jobs posted in the last two days and that was only the city jobs not north, south or east county. Similar number for LA, OC, and the IE.
There are jobs...plenty of 'em. And plenty more on the way. Mostly minimum wage or sales positions. These can be rough, but that's what hard times are all about. The problem is that the US "labor force" is overqualified, or rather, poorly qualified, for the real economy. Students have been preparing to get past the gatekeepers at bloated corporations rather than acquiring relevant skills for a morphing reality. There isn't a job shortage...so many of these people were really not needed in the first place. They will adapt or remain casualties of the shifting tides, because the 80's aren't coming back. Instead, there will be lots of work for technicians and skilled installation workers for the alternative energy revolution. The neat thing about this, unlike road work or other projects that simply improve quality of life, renewable energy jobs programs can start producing tangible yields, measurable in cash dollars, immediately. Congress and the President should be encouraged to move forward with the boldest possible application of this principle to restore the job market.
People aren't willing to take low paid jobs to get by while they are 'in between' jobs. There's 5 million people collecting unemployment benefits but another 1.5 million on extended benefits. Where is the money going to come from when we have millions of people that are draining the system?
Why not give them jobs? As I said, the Fed as Employer of Last Resort could actually get quite a lot of use of any work force. We're debt spending, may as well invest in the future and the working people of this country. Even worse...the baby boomer generation is officially entering retirement age. Now that many have lost their savings, social security won't be enough. And let's not forget the Iraq soldiers and civilian employees in Iraq...what happens to the labor market when that gets dumped on it? Personally, I think that's why the Iraq drawdown is so slow and troops being shifted East. Obama has been informed, no doubt, that the economy simply can't handle all these new jobseekers.
The military has been reduced approx 500,000 since the end of the cold war. The only difference in the job market will be the National Guard and Reserve troops that are deployed. The Fed as an employer of last resort is not such a bad idea. Getting people into the labor force will motivate them to find better private jobs. You see thousands of illegal aliens in the streets looking for jobs like light construction, moving, yardwork etc.
Well we are no where near last resort as there are hundreds of jobs out there even in Elkhart, Indiana, people just need to look for them and adapt (learn a skill or move/commute). How about we put the people to work that are already collecting unemployment? Have them gather in designated areas based on skills like next to the illegal alien day labor hang outs and the government could put up signs stating "Free American labor for American small businesses". There could also be an online gathering point where unemployed technical Americans can do work for free instead of having it outsourced to the developing world for sub minimum wage. It would be great to the over taxed working American small business owners and we could allow the unemployed workers ample time for job interviews.
How about you call one of those places and ask how many applicants each position has had? If it's anything like this area, they will respond with something like "a couple dozen" Does that sound like a good job market? Just because there's a lot of jobs posted on craigslist, doesn't mean the job-to-applicant ratio is doing fine...
There are nearly US 200,000 personnel stationed in Iraq. This population was extracted at the outset of the invasion, despite rotation of personnel, and withdrawing completely would return the majority of these to the civilian job market, especially as reservists will be immediately discharged and enlistments expire. Cold war comparisons are beside the point...these will be workers dumped on the labor market of today, exacerbating the unemployment issue even if most of them find jobs. Where do you suppose those jobs will come from?
I saw something on Fox yesterday that employers can't find enough machinists that are trained with computers. The troops would redeployed back to bases in the US and Germany. The US Army has been expanded to 524,000 but during the cold war util 1991 the US Army has 774,000 troops with no war going on.
I am running an ad now and the number of applicants is low; half of the applicants are actually businesses suggesting that we outsource to them. It's an entry level job paying twice what Starbucks pays. But we are competing with hundreds of other employers.
"a couple of dozen" applicants sounds quite good as I would expect they are applying to dozens of companies so the ratio is not bad. I would be concerned about the job market if there were hundreds of applicants per job posting. I am running an ad now and the number of applicants is low; half of the applicants are actually businesses suggesting that we outsource to them. It's an entry level job paying twice what Starbucks pays, but we are competing with hundreds of other employers so a few applicants per day tells me times are still pretty decent.
I'm really happy that the situation you're in tells you that the economy is doing fine, but that's not the norm... The people that I've been talking to that have been coming to my place of employment for interviews tell a completely different story. Over qualified people that have taken massive pay cuts - if they're even able to get a job... If you really can't see that the economy is hurting, check out the DJIA or look at the countries current foreclosure rate...
Times are tough but the Government is taking extreme actions when you compare the unemployment rate to the 1981-82 recession and unemployment of the early 80's. People aren't willing to take low end jobs and many low end jobs are filled by illegal aliens. The pay rate is in the $8-$10 range. I'm thinking that people would rather collect extended unemployment rather than work for the same money.