How Bad is the Jobs Situation? Much Worse Than What's Being Reported

The New York Post has the details:

If you are an American looking for work -- no, make that pleading to be allowed to earn a living -- you already know this: the job market is even worse than Washington is telling us. And Washington yesterday told us that the employment situation is just plain ugly. . . .

For one thing, the number of jobs increased in June only because the Labor Department simultaneously revised downward the number of jobs that existed in this country during May. It's like moving the fences at Citi Field so the Mets players can hit more home runs. It might make Jose Reyes feel better, but it doesn't actually make him more powerful.

Without the fence-moving operation in the May employment report, the June number -- yesterday's number -- would have shown a decline of 26,000 jobs.

Then there's another problem with June's employment report. Included in the 18,000 headline number is a guesstimate that 131,000 jobs were created by newly formed -- and, therefore, invisible -- companies.

If you want to send your resume to one of these companies, don't bother. They probably don't exist, and neither do the jobs the government thinks they are creating. These figments of the imagination of the Labor Department's computers will probably disappear when the numbers are checked early next year. . . .

The job numbers are only going to get worse in the months ahead.

For one thing, the government will stop adding jobs for those small, newly formed fictitious companies. That bit of optimistic statistical hocus-pocus has been lifting the job reports during all the spring months.

Private business has all but stopped hiring because employers don't know what to expect from coming regulations involving Obamacare and other government intrusions into their ability to make a profit. Until there's a change at the top I don't expect any of this to improve.