Posted on 09/22/2013 3:55:00 AM PDT by Kaslin
The jobs report looks good. The jobs report wasn’t as bad as anticipated. There are fewer people working, but that’s okay - the unemployment rate still dropped last month.
Are you fed up with the U.S. federal government’s “spin” and constant efforts to convince you that the labor market isn’t as bad as it seems?
At the beginning of each month, the U.S. Department of Labor tabulates the number of employment positions that were created the month before. Journalists and pundits are always eager to publicize what has come to be loosely known as the “jobs report,” with headlines that pounce on the latest unemployment rate, and a raw number of “new jobs.”
But after the initial monthly buzz about the headlines, media professionals’ interest in the labor market mostly disappears. And that’s a shame; because neither the initial jobs data or the “revised data” that gets released later in the month actually tells the full story of what is really happening.
The labor force participation rate -the percentage of the population that is either employed or actually trying to secure employment (and a figure that is at about a thirty year low right now) - largely gets ignored. So also are the under-employment rate, the rate at which full time jobs are being “converted” to part time jobs, the decline in wages, and the increase in the number of multi-job working individuals mostly all ignored as well.
And here’s another reality that gets overlooked by both our government, and the media: we are in the midst of a veritable explosion of opportunity in another sector of the labor market, but it has nothing to do with “employment” or “jobs.” It is technically referred to as “independent contract labor,” but is more frequently called, simply, “freelancing.”
Working as a “freelancer” is very different from being an employee, and nobody should attempt to enter into the freelance marketplace without first discussing it with their tax consultant and legal counsel. City, county, state and federal government agencies are hunting-down people young and old, who work as freelancers without the having proper business permits and tax collection mechanisms in place ( search “tax collector goes after 12 year old boy” online and see the pathetic news from the “conservative” state of Idaho). Don’t take this warning lightly.
But to illustrate the practical differences between employment and freelancing, imagine for the moment that you’re an accountant. If you’re employed full time in somebody else’s organization, you’ll probably be expected to report to a regular workplace on a regular schedule, and you’ll be kept busy reconciling bank statements to the organization’s records, preparing tax returns, issuing financial statements, perhaps handling billing for the group, and preparing financial performance records for the organization’s management. In return for your work, you’ll probably receive an agreed-upon salary paid incrementally every couple of weeks, paid time-off for health or personal reasons, health insurance benefits and paid vacation time.
On the other hand, if you’re an accountant who works as a freelancer, you might perform many of those same tasks for an outside organization, yet your work will happen differently. You’ll probably work on your schedule, not necessarily on the organization’s required “8-5” schedule; you may do most if not all of the work in your own office (maybe your home); and you’ll provide all your own equipment and office supplies (computers, software, telephones, etc..). Oh, and here’s another big difference: you’ll pay all your own income taxes, including an additional “self employment tax;” and you’ll have to fend for yourself when it comes to insurance benefits. In short, a freelance accountant is a business owner, not an employee, and the individuals and organizations for whom they provide accounting services are clients, not their employer.
If being a freelancer sounds challenging to you, rest assured that your hunch is correct. But here’s another little-known fact that escapes politicians and media professional alike: at a fairly rapid pace, Americans are learning to make a living as freelancers even when they can’t find “jobs.” The monthly “jobs” report for the most part completely ignores this trend. Yet according to the private non-profit “Freelancers Union” organization, the number of freelancers has expanded by about 400% over the past five years alone.
The current lackluster state of job creation is a direct result of bad government, namely the federal Obamacare law. It’s unclear how much higher the unemployment rate will need to rise and how many more full time jobs will need to be “converted” to part time jobs, before Americans wake up and realize that we have empowered some very destructive public policy that is creating far more problems than solutions.
But business is still happening despite all the roadblocks that government creates. Individuals and organizations are finding ways to legally form partnerships wherein they can be helpful and productive with one-another, even though politicians have been allowed to run amuck and poison employer-employee relationships.
Don’t expect Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi or John Boehner to understand the real dynamics of the labor markets any time soon. They are too busy posturing, blaming, and blabbering about “jobs,” and their behavior won’t change until sufficient numbers of us demand a change. In mean time, there is opportunity at hand – for those who are willing to search for it.
Your Town Hall articles which you re-produce here are PRICELESS. Thank you.
You’re welcome :)
Don’t expect Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi or John Boehner to understand the real dynamics of the labor markets any time soon.
They understand it. They are deliberately wrecking the economy for Cloward-Piven reasons.
“Do gooder democrats.
They are the cause of the 2008 bump in the road. Their main slum media carried every story back then to beat the current administration over the head. Bush’s fault vote for change?¿.The economic system was purposely poisoned for their political gain. Five years latter and things are worse. The only difference is the polarity of their lies..”
This sums it up very well. In 1988 there was an erisa ruling changing pension vesting from 10 years to 5 years. I remember thinking this was not going to go over well and I was right. I worked in a plant with 20,000 strong and within 5 years there was 8,000 left. This ruling absolutely destroyed manufacturing in this country. The biggest employer in my county is a university and the second is a hospital, whats that say about one of the strongest manufacturing areas in history being destroyed by democrats lording it over industry.
And the media spin this week was the turnaround in the housing market......where? They are lying lying lying hoping that we will eat it sit back and go to sleep. These diabolical bastards are setting us up
It is not spin, I am a Realtor in Oregon, work in a very small rural town and to prove my point in my area here are the brief stats put out by our RMLS, the multiple listing service for all Realtors in my area. I would not say it has fully recovered, but it is roaring back, not certain for how much longer, but tons of people are getting off the pot and buying, it has been busy for about the last 12 months. See that last stat? Closed sales up 18% over last year same month!! Median sales price up 11.5% from last year.
Year to Date Summary
The 1,499 new listings represent a 4.7% increase over the 1,432 entered by this time in 2012. There have been 830 accepted offers in 2013, up 15.4% from 719 pending sales during the same period in 2012. Closed sales have numbered 761 so far in 2013, an increase of 18.0% over the 645 posted this time in 2012.
Who are buying all these homes? Middle class? I doubt it. More likely investors. I read somewhwere that a large number of current home sales are cash sales. Those aren't blue collar buyers.
I think he'd hate them .... the professional liars in DC put everything he did to shame!
Think about it: Goebbels had to force, cajole, etc.. the media in Germany to do his bidding. In modern day United States, the liberal lamestream media doesn't have to be forced to do the liberal fascist DemoKKKrats bidding - the liberal lamestream media does their bidding, spreading their propaganda not only willingly, but seemingly HAPPILY SO!
This is why I always say that the first casualty of the next revolution here in the U.S. must be the media. That'll be the only way the TRUTH of the revolution actually gets out.
The frenzy has slowed a little since the interest rate recently went from mid 3% to mid 4%. Last January I sold a Freddie Mac home to a disabled vet on a 3.1% mortgage rate, 30 year fixed it was $150,000 cheaper than its last sale. Low interest rates, coupled with crashed home prices got many buyers sitting on the sidelines to jump in.
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