Endangered Jobs

In the February 17 issue of The Wall Street Journal, Andy Kessler  talks about the future of jobs – an important topic for college students.

For the most part, the satirical content of this piece is not required. The general idea is required.

My reason for linking it is that he is aware of, and, uses the JOLTS data we discussed in class.

So where the heck are all the jobs? Eight-hundred billion in stimulus and $2 trillion in dollar-printing and all we got were a lousy 36,000 jobs last month. That's not even enough to absorb population growth.

You can't blame the fact that 26 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed on lost housing jobs or globalization—those excuses are played out. To understand what's going on, you have to look behind the headlines. That 36,000 is a net number. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in December some 4,184,000 workers (seasonally adjusted) were hired, and 4,162,000 were "separated" (i.e., laid off or quit). This turnover tells the story of our economy … [emphasis added]