“On Jan. 1 California will have the highest minimum wage in the country,” as Capital Public Radio noted. “California workers earning minimum wage will get an extra dollar an hour at the beginning of the year. The state raised the rate from $8 to $9 in July 2014. Soon it will be $10 an hour.” Legislation hiking the wage was sponsored by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Salinas. According to Alejo, the increase would result in about $2,000 more net dollars over a year’s time working 40 hours a week at the new minimum wage.

A few other added benefits passed into law were set to take effect at the same time. “Workers will also be able to use job-protected leave to address child-care or school emergencies as of New Year’s Day,” CBS reported. According to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the channel noted, the new rules were expected to impact over 9 million California workers at or below the $7.25 federal minimum wage. (This year, legislators made one additional change to state labor law, the station noted, requiring “the cheerleaders and dance teams of professional sports organizations such as the Los Angeles Lakers to be classified as employees.”)

Faced with setbacks in Congress, Democrats nationwide increased pressure on state legislatures this year to hike their minimum wages. But in California, their push gained even more traction at the municipal level. “According to the UC Berkeley Labor Center, there are 29 cities and counties in the United States that have wage floors higher than their state’s minimum,” the Bakersfield Californian observed. “Fourteen of those local governments are in California.”

Local blowback

But some Golden State municipalities have balked. A new city leadership in Desert Hot Springs killed an ambitious minimum wage ordinance that “would have hiked the minimum wage for such employers to $10.20 per hour next year, with $1 increases in each of the following two years and jumps tied to the consumer price index after that,” as the Desert Sun reported. “Unions and franchisees would have been exempt,” it added — unlike Walmart, which signaled it would re-evaluate its long-time plans to add a franchise in town if the wage proposal went through.

The Southland’s economic situation has become a bone of political contention this election season, with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom taking heat for already pushing a $15 minimum wage statewide. “Labor markets in Imperial County, for example, already struggle to supply even more-experienced job-seekers with work,” wrote Michael Saltsman in a column for the Orange County Register. “The unemployment rate for all employees hovers around 22 percent. Across all occupations, the median hourly wage is $13.79. Even supporters of a higher minimum wage are uncomfortable with a wage floor that’s much higher than half of the median wage, which means $15 would be economic suicide for Imperial County.”

Replacing workers

Critics of dramatic increases in the state minimum have long contended that their impact includes cutbacks on hiring. “In an analysis of Los Angeles’ wage hike commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Beacon Economics argued the wage ordinance could lead to businesses employing fewer low-wage workers, resulting in a higher unemployment rate among unskilled workers,” as the Californian observed. But now, concerns about the outright replacement of workers by machines have been added to the mix. “Employer groups opposed to raising the minimum wage say labor costs are already driving decisions to replace human labor with technology,” KPCC reported. “They say higher minimum wages will accelerate automation trends in the workplace.”

Richard LoGuercio, president of an event rentals company in Van Nuys, told KPCC he was “just screwed” with the fast hike, although he supported gradual increases in the minimum wage. “After the minimum wage ordinance was approved, LoGuercio invested in a $150,000 industrial dishwasher he had been eyeing to save on utility costs,” the station recounted. “The machine will also allow him to stop paying six to eight people who earn $10 to $11 an hour washing dishes. LoGuercio expects to recoup his costs in nine months, and save a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year going forward.”

While the government jobs report is often called a fairytale because of how it is reported, the real numbers deeper within just don't look good.

Sept. jobs report

The September jobs report saw the U.S. economy add only 148,000 jobs — notably worse than expected by economic forecasters. The report was delayed more than two weeks thanks to the government shutdown.

CNBC reported, “Job-creation weakens, but unemployment rate down.”

Unemployment under George W. Bush

Remember when George W. Bush was President — even going back to Ronald Reagan's Presidency — the jobs report was reported by the media far differently? It was all doom and gloom under Bush and Reagan.

What is apparent is that this presidential administration is desperate to get to the unemployment numbers the country enjoyed under Bush – any way they can.

When President Bush took office in January, 2001 the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the highest the unemployment rate rose was 6.3 percent.

Then the economy calmed down and finally grew again, lowering unemployment to the 5 percent range, where it stayed until 2003.

The unemployment rate was 5.4 percent when Bush was reelected in November, 2004.

The unemployment rate dipped to 4.9 percent and remained in the 4 percent range through November, 2007.

By December, 2007 the unemployment rate rose to 5.0 percent, and continued to rise slowly and up to 6.1 percent in August 2008. And then the economy tanked, and the unemployment rate shot up to 6.8 percent, ending December, 2008 at 7.3 percent.

Current unemployment

Current economists had been predicting 180,000 new jobs and static jobless rate. This is what's known as stagnation.

Stagnation is a prolonged period of slow economic growth, usually accompanied by high unemployment.

The jobs report was bad for women as well. The the number of women working in America dropped from 68,005,000 in August to 67,851,000 in September—a decline of 154,000, CNS News reported.

Breakdowns

“Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.1 percent), adult women (6.2 percent), teenagers (21.4 percent), whites (6.3 percent), blacks (12.9 percent), and Hispanics (9.0 percent) showed little or no change in September,” the BLS reported. “The jobless rate for Asians was 5.3 percent.”

While reports showing the unemployment rate fell to 7.2 percent, the lowest since November 2008, the important details were in the labor-force participation rate —  holding at near 35-year lows, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Between March and April, it dropped by 342,000. But because the official unemployment rate counts only those workers who are actively seeking work, that actually made the unemployment rate go down.

The labor-force participation rate takes into account a broader measurement of unemployment and underemployment, including those who have quit looking for work. The BLS reported this number is  at 13.6 percent.

The Washington Post described it differently: The “labor force participation rate”  “tracks the number of working-age Americans who are holding a job or looking for one,” the WaPo said. And they claim, “For one thing, the trend predates President Obama.”

The U.S. economy has to add at least 150,000 jobs net each month just to maintain. This jobs report means we are worse than September, but only slightly.

In September, 136,000 people left the workforce. The number of employed in the same population survey only increased 133,000, demonstrating the ongoing economic stagnation. And according to economists, this is another indication of the decreasing value of the jobless rate as an economic indicator.

“The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.1 million,” the BLS reported. “These individuals accounted for 36.9 percent of the unemployed.”

“The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was unchanged at 7.9 million in September,” said the BLS. “These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.”

And the number of people currently unemployed, but looking and available for a job was at 2.3 million.

Does this sound like a health country?

By Katy Grimes

The U.S. economy lost more than 1.4 million jobs between December and January. But it’s almost impossible to find any reports in the mainstream media about this.

Instead, the media primarily have reported on reduced federal spending, as if that is enough of a balancing act. But the government has no choice but to make cuts as the United States now runs deficits of more than $1 trillion. It cannot continue.

Much of the media have been ignoring the truth about the economy, cherry-picking some factoids and telling outright falsehoods.

Shrinking labor force

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of the U.S. labor force “that is employed” has continually fallen since 2006.

But it gets worse.

The number of Americans “not in the labor force” more than tripled during Barack Obama’s first term in office. This number is particularly interesting because it is larger than the increase in the number of Americans “not in the labor force” during the entire decade of 1980-1990.

The mainstream media have been giddy reporting 157,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in January. But it’s the “non-seasonally adjusted” numbers — the number of Americans with a job — which actually decreased by 1,446,000 between December and January, according to Michael Snyder, an economist, attorney and author of the Economic Collapse blog. These numbers are even more important.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the labor participation number has been in a free fall since 2006:

2006: 63.1 percent employed

2007: 63.0

2008: 62.2

2009: 59.3

2010: 58.5

2011: 58.4

In January, only 57.9 percent of the civilian labor force was employed.

What does this mean?

“A 1954 Studebaker Lark has more momentum than this economy!” said CNBC’s financial expert, Rick Santelli. He noted in December that the labor force participation rate has dropped significantly since Obama was elected. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this means the number of Americans age 16 or older who decided not to work or even to seek a job increased by 8,332,000 to a record 88,839,000 in President Barack Obama’s first term.

“The people who run the country — on both sides of the aisle — they love to get elected and they also love to fib about the statistics in any way they can,” Santelli said. “Once again, I think my common phrase these days is: Shame on all of them.”

“Before Obama took office, the labor force participation rate had not been as low as 63.6 percent since 1981, the year President Ronald Reagan took over from President Jimmy Carter,” a time of deep recession, CNS News reported. Santelli noted in January the total debt that our children are currently charged with is $3.5 million per baby born today. Santelli is right. Instead of just listening to the media hype and spin, look at the numbers.

According to the BLS, in 2007 more than 146 million Americans were employed.  Today, that number has dropped to 141.6 million, even though our population has grown by about 15 million.

What recovery?

State, local and federal governments, together with the help of the media, report that we are in a “recovery.” They insist unemployment is lower than it was a couple of years ago.

But the truth is the continuing drop in the labor force. And during Obama’s first term the number of Americans on food stamps increased by an average of about 11,000 per day. These statistics go hand in hand.

“When Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, the number of Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) recipients was 31,939,110. By October 2012, the latest month reported, they had jumped to 47,525,329,” CNS News reported. “That means the food stamp program grew by approximately 11,133 recipients per day from January 2009 to October 2012.” SNAP is formerly known as the Food Stamp program.

CNS News also reported, “[F]ederal spending on SNAP has increased every fiscal year that Obama has been in office. In FY 2009—when SNAP was still known as the ‘Food Stamp’ program—the government spent $55.6 billion. According to an April 2012 report from the Congressional Budget Office, SNAP enrollment increased by 70 percent between 2007 and 2011.”

The Obama administration, California Gov. Jerry Brown and the media have been misleading about unemployment, welfare expansion, government entitlements and the true condition of our economy. But they appear to be closely protected by much of the media.

California’s poverty rate of 23.5 percent is the highest in the nation — much higher than the national average of 16.1 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Killing off small business

Millions of small businesses are on the verge of extinction. Yet local, state and federal bureaucrats and politicians just continue to heap more taxes and fees on them, more rules and more regulations. Just since November when President Barack Obama was re-elected, the federal government has issued hundreds of new regulations.

“Get your boot off of my neck!” says one small business owner I know every time she is forced to pay another tax increase of additional license cost or fee.

A recent Gallup poll found 61 percent of all small business owners in America are worried about the potential cost of healthcare because of Obamacare. A shocking 30 percent of all small business owners in America say they are not only not hiring, but they fear that they will go out of business within the next 12 months.

“More U.S. small-business owners say they let more employees go than they hired on average over the past 12 months, for a net hiring index of -10 in January, according to the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index,” Gallup Economy reported on Jan. 31.

Texas Governor Rick Perry recently called for returning “excess tax money” to taxpayers in his state, while California small businesses lost jobs as their taxes rose.

Yet according to the National Federation of Small Business California, small businesses account for more than 97 percent of all jobs in California.

What better way to destroy the economy than to kill off small businesses?

Spin and hype

Even bad economic news is hyped by the media as though it is good news.

In response to the news that the economy “contracted” by -0.1 percent in the final quarter of last year, Democrats touted the claim of Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist for Capital Economics, that it’s “the best-looking contraction in U.S. GDP you’ll ever see. The drag from defense spending and inventories is a one-off. The rest of the report is all encouraging.”

Breitbart’s John Nolte summed up the spin:

* “Politico saw the jobs numbers as something that ‘could soothe some of the renewed economic anxiety in Washington.’

* “The AP saw the jobs numbers as proof the ‘U.S. job market is proving sturdier than expected” and “mostly encouraging.’

* “CBS News wants to assure all of us that the ‘[l]atest job numbers signal economic recovery.’

* “Yahoo News says, “Don’t Be Fooled by the GDP Report: The Economy Is Gaining Strength.'”

List of bad news

Nolte made a list of the bad news far too many Americans face:

* “What you’re seeing from the media is shamelessly dishonest propaganda.

* “Poverty is increasing.

* “Gas prices have almost doubled.

* “The price of health care premiums has exploded and will only explode more (but-but-but Obama said…!)

* “Poor and middle-class incomes are falling.

* “One-in-five Americans are on food stamps.

* “The non-partisan GAO says Obama’s exploding deficit is unsustainable.

* “Eight million people are looking for work.

* “Our labor force has shrunk to 30-year levels (170,000 more dropped out last month).

* “Chronic unemployment hasn’t been this bad since before World War II.

* “The long-term unemployment rate is more than 14 percent. And if the labor force was merely the same size today as it was the day Obama took office, today’s unemployment rate would be closer to 11 percent.”

When’s the last time the media talked about any of that?

By Katy Grimes

Did you hear the one about the government hiring record numbers of new employees while the country teeters on the brink of financial disaster?

Actually, it’s no joke.

Call the government if you need a job – they are always hiring.

According to a newly-released official report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 73 percent of the new civilian jobs created in the United States over the last five months are in government.

“In June, a total of 142,415,000 people were employed in the U.S, according to the BLS, including 19,938,000 who were employed by federal, state and local governments,” Terence Jeffrey of CNS News reported.

“By November, according to data BLS released today, the total number of people employed had climbed to143,262,000, an overall increase of 847,000 in the five months since June,” Jeffrey reported. “In the same five-month period since June, the number of people employed by government increased by 621,000 to 20,559,000. These 621,000 new government jobs created in the last five months equal 73.3 percent of the 847,000 new jobs created overall.”

Here is the BLS report. Scroll through it to the end to see the private sector, manufacturing, non-farm, health care, and government employment numbers.

By the way, here is my favorite government worker joke:

Four men were bragging about how smart their dogs are. The first man was an Engineer, the second was an Accountant, the third was a Chemist, and the fourth man was a Government Worker.

To show off, the Engineer called to his dog. “T-Square, do your stuff.”
T-Square trotted over to a desk, took out some paper and a pen and promptly drew a circle, a square, and a triangle. Everyone agreed that was pretty smart.

The Accountant said his dog could do better, and said, “Slide Rule, do your stuff.”

Slide Rule went out into the kitchen and returned with a dozen cookies. He divided them into 4 equal piles of 3 cookies each. Everyone agreed that was good.

The Chemist said his dog could do better still, so he called his dog and said, “Measure, do your stuff.”

Measure got up, walked over to the fridge, took out a quart of milk, got a 10 ounce glass from the cupboard and poured exactly 8 ounces without spilling a drop. Everyone agreed that was great.

The Government Worker called to his dog and said, “Coffee Break, do your stuff!”

Coffee Break jumped to his feet, ate the cookies, drank the milk, dumped on the paper, sexually assaulted the other three dogs, claimed he injured his back while doing so, filed a grievance for unsafe working conditions, put in for Workers’ Compensation and went home on sick leave.

By John Seiler

In numbers released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, California’s unemployment in July remained the same as in June, 10.7 percent. But that was an improvement from the 11.9 percent of July 2011.

The U.S. unemployment rate of 8.3 percent for July 2012 also was the same as the previous month. The BLS reported, “Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed or slightly higher in July. Forty-four states recorded unemployment rate increases, two states and the District of Columbia posted rate decreases, and four states had no change.”

The economy seems in stagnation mode in the runup to the election, with employers waiting to see which politicians voters choose on Nov. 6, and what policies — despite the promises made on the campaign hustings — are implemented in January.

This is more evidence that the U.S. economic “recovery,” if it can be called that, is the slowest since World War II. Reported the Christian Science Monitor, “Since World War II, 10 U.S. recessions have been followed by a recovery that lasted at least three years. An Associated Press analysis shows that by just about any measure, the one that began in June 2009 is the weakest.

“The ugliness goes well beyond unemployment, which at 8.3 percent is the highest this long after a recession ended.”

Empty cradles

The weak recovery extends even to birth rates. According to the Economist:

“For years, America was unusual among rich countries in having a relatively high TFR of around 2.1, the so-called “replacement rate”, at which a population stabilises over the long term. European countries were typically below that rate, sometimes far below it.

“So it comes as something of a shock to discover that in 2011 America’s fertility rate was below replacement level and below that of some large European countries. The American rate is now 1.9 and falling. France’s is 2.0 and stable. The rate in England is 2.0 and rising slightly.

“American fertility reached its recent peak in 2007; its fall has coincided with the economic crisis that began at the end of that year. Recession seems to have reduced fertility through at least two channels. First, migrants often cannot find work and go back home. Since they tend to have slightly larger families than native-born citizens, this reduces fertility. It has happened in Spain in the past two years, and may be happening in America as Mexicans leave.

“Second, loss of income, compounded by the housing crisis, is causing young people to postpone marriage, the setting up of new homes, and having children.”

It’s not much of a “recovery” if people are too depressed to have kids.

California holding America back

California used to lead America out of recessions, its gigantic, high-tech industries being the Lead locomotive that pulled the train up the mountain. Now, we’re the caboose that follows everything else.

Meanwhile, the state political establishment is obsessed with placing even more burdens on the state with a passel of tax increases, beginning with a tax on multistate businesses that passed the Assembly. Next up are three tax increases on the November ballot. And it looks like the biased, pro-tax increase labels put on them by leftist Attorney General Kamala Harris are goosing the initiatives in the polls, and perhaps on election day.

Well, why not? California needs to kill even more jobs. Our 10.7 percent unemployment rate is still in third place, behind Rhode Island at 10.8 percent and Nevada at 12 percent.

We like to be No. 1.