By Patricia L Johnson and Richard E Walrath

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the US economy?  We think it would be safe to assume most US voters think of the monthly Jobs Report as being representative of how well, or how poorly, our economy is doing.

Our current Administration is constantly touting job growth as an indication of how well this country is doing, but the fact is we aren’t even keeping pace with the number of jobs created the last year the prior Administration was in office.

Our Bureau of Labor Statistics released a preliminary figure of 201,000 jobs created for the month of August 2018, on September 7, 2018.  201,000 jobs by itself is a good number, but when you combine it with the 147,000 jobs created for the month of July 2018, you’re only talking about an average of 174,000 jobs per month, for the two-month period.  Please do not forget, these numbers are preliminary, meaning they are subject to change once finalized.  They could either be increased or decreased.

Let us go back to the prior Administration.  In 2016, the last year of the Obama Administration, there were a total of 2,344,000 jobs created or an average of 195,000, jobs created each month of the year.

President Trump went into office on January 20, 2017 and the total number of jobs created for calendar year 2017 was 2,188,000 or 182,000 jobs per month.

2018, with eight months of jobs reported, totals 1,654,000 jobs created, which is terrific, but two of the numbers are preliminary and the year isn’t over so only time will tell the story.

The one thing that must be taken into consideration is where the jobs created are coming from, they are not in manufacturing, they are not in mining, they are not in any of the industries the Administration claimed would benefit from their job growth plan.

The jobs are being created in the food and drink service industry, which will increase automatically no matter which party is in office.  Folks are no longer eating at home because it’s far cheaper and more convenient to either eat out and/or have meals delivered.

Since 2000 the trend in food and drink service jobs has increased and the increase was slightly more rapid under both the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration, compared to the current Administration.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs in the food service industry represents 5.6 percent of all jobs created, under the Trump Administration, between January 2017 and June 2018.  The balance of jobs falls into the following categories:

Data Source:  Bureau of Labor Statistics

In summary, jobs created are mostly service jobs which are the lowest paying jobs in the economy.  They will not support buying a home or paying off student debt which is now $1.5 trillion dollars, for the first quarter of 2018; coincidentally, the same amount that will be added to the deficit, annually, due to the Trump tax cut for the wealthy.

In short, the rich will continue to get richer and the poor will stay poor under this Administration.

© 2018 Johnson and Walrath