RUTHFULLY YOURS

Friday’s jobs report has everyone excited. Everyone, that is, who is pulling for Joe Biden to win reelection. Outside that blinkered lot, the pain of Bidenomics is still very real.

“Today’s report marks a milestone in America’s comeback,” he said. “Three years ago, I inherited an economy on the brink” – a lie we’ve repeatedly exposed – “With today’s report of 303,000 new jobs in March, we have passed the milestone of 15 million jobs created since I took office” – another lie; as we noted last week, the economy has created only 5 million net new jobs under Biden, which is less than the number of jobs created during President Donald Trump’s first three years in office.

Biden goes on: “That’s 15 million more people who have the dignity and respect that comes with a paycheck.”

But wait. Even if that 15 million number was legitimate, does it mean that 15 million people got jobs?

Turns out, it doesn’t not by a long shot.

In a series of posts on X, Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni explains what these numbers really mean. The picture is far from rosy.

Antoni dug into the jobs data and discovered that all the new jobs created in March were part-time. The number of full-time jobs actually declined a little. This trend has been going on for a while, which is why the average number of hours worked each week has been trending down for three years.

Why the surge in part-time employment?

Antoni notes that many Americans who’ve been laid off ended up replacing one job with two or three part-time jobs. Others are picking up additional work to offset the ravages of Bidenflation. Neither are trends worth bragging about.

There’s another way that 15 million doesn’t add up. The Bureau of Labor Statistics produces two sets of job numbers, based on two different surveys – one of households (employment level) and the other of business establishments (non-farm payrolls). Normally, these two move in tandem.

But the rising share of part-time work “has caused an unprecedented divergence between the household and establishment surveys, since the latter double-counts individuals w/multiple jobs while the former survey shows a net loss of jobs since Aug ’23,” Antoni says.

See the chart below.

Then there’s the fact that many of the new jobs have gone to foreigners. In fact, over the past 12 months, native-born Americans lost 651,000 jobs, while foreign-born gained 1.3 million.

It goes without saying that if Biden were a Republican these statistics would all be front-page news.

Meanwhile, the inflation that Biden claims “has come down significantly” continues to ravage households.

A recent survey of renters and homeowners by Redfin showed that more than one in five say they’ve skipped meals, worked more hours, or sold belongings to cope with rising housing costs. More than a third said they have taken fewer or no vacations. Nearly 16% say they delayed or skipped medical care.

Yahoo Finance reports that “A stunning seven in 10 Americans have cut their contributions to their retirement savings accounts due to the rising cost of living.”

And just last week, California-based 99 Cents Only Stores announced plans to close all of its 371 stores in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas, citing inflation and theft as the reasons.

We could go on and on and on.

In the real world, Biden’s Pollyannaish statements about the economy only add insult to injury.