Those Great New Jobs

In 2008 there were 303.8 million people in the US and of those 152.2 million were working. After the housing bubble burst, 19% of the people who lost their jobs were in the highest pay brackets, 60% of the jobs lost were to mid level employees and only 21% were in low paying jobs.

Since then the economy has created 6.26 million new jobs. There was a 1% gain in employment of the highest skilled employees. But for the middle class there has been a loss of 38% for jobs in the mid tier of the pay scale $14 to $21 dollars per hour. There has been a gain of 33% in low paying jobs which pay on average about $11.00 per hour and offer minimum or no benefits.

Overall there are about 2.5 million less jobs in the US today as in 2008 plus the population has grown by 13.5 million over this period. The Congressional Budget Office reports that the Immigration Bill just passed by the Senate will change US policy and continue to depress the job market for the next decade. Read that to mean that new jobs will continue to be OK for those in the high skill arena but middle class jobs will continue to shrink as American workers compete with immigrants for jobs.

A further complication for workers will begin in January 2014 when The Affordable Care Act is fully implemented. Look for small and medium sized business to begin a new round of layoffs. The cost of providing benefits, if they exceed the max they can employ, without providing health insurance will force them to either pay fines or reduce the number of full time workers. This will probably work out to either a reduction in pay or fewer hours as business owners will be unable to absorb the costs.

The final nail in middle class jobs is Congress's unwillingness to reduce the business income tax rates to a more competitive rate for international companies.  These Companies are sitting on billions of dollars which could be invested in USA. American business are in a position to bring hundred of thousands of manufacturing jobs home if the congress fix the Tax Code.

The US also need to change the country's education system. Public School continue to turn out graduates which can't compete in mid level Job Skills and employers no longer take on the role of educators. Days of employers training their people in house are gone. They now expect trade schools and colleges to provide this training.  The problem with this is the "Expert" syndrome it creates. Training as a Project Manager, CAD Operator or Specific Computer Controlled Machine operator doesn't create a rounded individual who can progress in a career path. Anymore than a Bachelor's Degree in History, Physiology or English is a guarantee of a middle class job in todays world. In fact both choices may lead to long term employment in a less than desirable job with fifty thousand dollars in school loans hanging over your head, with no ability to pay it back.

Ah these great new jobs!