The relentlessly negative New York Times gravely called December 2021’s monthly jobs report “the weakest report of the year.” But was it? Until the third paragraph, they never tell you that the unemployment rate fell to 3.9%, generally considered full employment, or any of the other good news about wage increases.
by David Stone
About the weakest job report of the year…
I may not be completely objective, I still haven’t forgiven the Times acting as Donald Trump’s de facto campaign support in his “but her emails” initiative. Then, swooning over him when he met with their editors and told them he read his “hometown newspaper” every day. I should be over that, but I’m not. Anyway…
The New York Times (NYT) reported that 199,000 jobs were added in December 2021, the lowest monthly number this year.” They also stated that this brought the unemployment rate to 3.9%, among the lowest level in 50 years. Where did the Times think all those workers would come from? Earlier, the newspaper reported, November saw more people quit their jobs than any other time in history. Maybe they didn’t fancy rushing back to jobs where employers haven’t wised up and nobody wants to work for them.
Full employment is a situation in which everyone who wants to work can find a job. It is usually defined as an unemployment rate of 4% or less.
Maybe more important though was the growth in hourly wage rates. That number grew at a 4.76% annual rate, meaning more money in wage earners’ pockets. That’s the highest rate in over 25 years.
Hourly wage rates are extremely important to the economy because they are the major factor determining how much money is available. When wage rates increase, people have more to spend, which increases the demand for goods and services. This helps businesses grow and creates even more jobs.
Increasingly, it becomes apparent that, under current management, the Times is more interested in attracting readership through negative clickbait than through objective reporting. That’s why a jobs report with many positive results registers as “…the weakest report…” But it was really more like the weakest journalism.
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“I Can Ask”
Chair Fay Christian opened the Operations Advisory Committee on February 12th, reading out member names from a prepared sheet that omitted Melissa Wade. It didn’t feel intentional, but it struck me as odd precisely because it came from something prepared. Lydia Tang gently corrected her, noting that Wade was, in fact, a member of the committee. Wade met the moment with grace, or perhaps she simply wasn’t bothered by it.
