America’s Descent Into the Third World

Chronicles Magazine ^ | Monday, July 25, 2005 | Paul Craig Roberts

[A. Pole]

The June payroll jobs report did not receive much attention due to the July 4 holiday, but the depressing 21st century job performance of the U.S. economy continues unabated.

Only 144,000 private sector jobs were created, each one of which was in domestic services.

Fifty-six thousand jobs were created in professional and business services, about half of which are in administrative and waste services.

Thirty-eight thousand jobs were created in education and health services, almost all of which are in health care and social assistance.

Nineteen thousand jobs were created in leisure and hospitality, almost all of which are waitresses and bartenders.

Membership associations and organizations created 10,000 jobs, and repair and maintenance created 4,000 jobs.

Financial activities created 16,000 jobs.

This most certainly is not the labor market profile of a First World country, much less a superpower.

Where are the jobs for this year’s crop of engineering and science graduates?

U.S. manufacturing lost another 24,000 jobs in June. A country that doesn’t manufacture doesn’t need many engineers. And the few engineering jobs available go to foreigners.

Readers have sent me employment listings from U.S. software development firms. The listings are discriminatory against American citizens. One ad from a company in New Jersey that is a developer for many companies, including Oracle, specifies that the applicant must have a TN visa.

A TN or Trade NAFTA visa is what is given to Mexicans and Canadians who are willing to work in the United States at below prevailing wages.

Another ad from a software consulting company based in Omaha, Neb., specifies it wants software engineers who are H-1B transferees. What this means is that the firm is advertising for foreigners already in the United States who have H-1B work visas.

The reason the U.S. firms specify that they have employment opportunities only for foreigners who hold work visas is because the foreigners will work for less than the prevailing U.S. salary.

Gentle reader, when you read allegations that there is a shortage of engineers in America, necessitating the importation of foreigners to do the work, you are reading a bald-faced lie. If there were a shortage of American engineers, employers would not word their job listings to read that no American need apply and that they are offering jobs only to foreigners holding work visas.

What kind of country gives preference to foreigners over its own engineering graduates?

What kind of country destroys the job market for its own citizens?

How much longer will parents shell out $100,000 for a college education for a son or daughter who ends up employed as a bartender, waitress or temp?

[colorado tanker]

5% unemployment, 4% economic growth, continued strong growth in personal income, the best economy and wealthiest people in the world. People from other countries willing to risk death to come here to clean our toilets.

The horror . . . . How did we come to this???

[Alberta's Child]

They got preferred treatment (grants, scholarships and school jobs) and got free rides while we had to work our butts off at Summer jobs etc. to stay in school and avoid the student-loan trap.

I was in engineering school in the late 80s and early 90s, and it was pretty much understood that the school accepted so many foreigners simply because they didn't get "free rides" -- their governments paid most of their costs.

[Polyxene]

"Oh don’t worry, our savor Hillary Clinton will rescue us! She is superwomen, she can do anything and she will save the USA!"

There is a Hillary-wannabe running for mayor of Cincinnati who is promising to create 10,000 jobs if she is elected! Ain't gonna happen, but I'm sure her deaf/dumb/blind constituents will believe her and walk right off that cliff!

[tomjohn77]

I tell you all the terms are different. When other people ask question you dont know what they are talking about at first. You dont get everything the teacher is saying. Its acctually harder than you think. I also though math would be simple to understand, but it was harder than I thought. Marketing class was much easier. Acctually my hardest class was American Government. I had to look up as many as 3 words in some sentences. I remember looking up 150 words in two short chapters. It was a pain in the ass. Especially since I knew close to nothing coming into the class and all the terms could have been in Greek and it would not been a difference

[iconoclast]

is it too much to expects today's so-called well-educated graduates to work for their pay?

I take it you've already made the foreigner over American choice in your own corporate facilities, Maria?

[Heyworth]

The business model that seems to be in vogue in recent years emphasizes short-term, quick profits, inflating share prices (which makes bonuses offered in the form of stock options pay off) by whatever means are handy and quick, avoiding risk, and avoiding long-term investment. These latter two contribute most directly to the decline in R&D activities.

Don't forget the part where the senior executives then use that temporary boost to the bottom line to coast to better jobs elsewhere, leaving the mid- and lower-level employees to clean up the mess they made.

[ninenot]

Do you think Roberts quoted the jobs report incorrectly?

Do you have a specific complaint, or do you just troll?

[Antoninus]

5% unemployment, 4% economic growth, continued strong growth in personal income, the best economy and wealthiest people in the world. People from other countries willing to risk death to come here to clean our toilets.

It is mildy amusing that some people get their panties in such a twist when we have a 5% unemployment rate.

[DoctorMichael]

At the moment, I am attempting to remain optimistic. However, I am edging towards your way of thinking and criticism of current economic policies.

[Modernman]

(Shrug) Perhaps defense industries are different from the economy in general. I suppose a case can be made that there should be more government involvement in vital defense industries than, say, the manufacturing of textiles.

That being said, that really doesn't translate to the manufacturing sector as a whole.

[ninenot]

Ummmnnnhhh...

Wisconsin's State budget will be $27Bn in each of the next two years. We have about 4.5 million people residing here.

Consider yourself lucky, my man...

[iconoclast]

Unfortunately, there's enormous pressure on young people based on the maxim that EVERYONE has to go to college. The only acceptable reason not to go is because you don't have the money.

Higher education and its promotion is a giant scam.

But by all means, let's keep blaming the kids.

[Modernman]

In the case of bullets, and other military essentials, subsidize. If capacity exceeds production requirements, "mothball" the capacity, don't scrap it, or sell it to China, (India, Singapore, etc).

Okay. But the super-specialized defense industry is really completely different from the rest of the manufacturing sector. There are valid complaints about how the gov't is handling defense procurement, but that really has nothing to do with the rest of our manufacturing.

[frgoff]

Whatever. You obviously are looking for someone to blame for all the problems in your life, and if they're a darkie from a foreign country, all the better.

[Alberta's Child]

Then it should be easy to find products made in the USA on the shelves of local stores, right?

Not necessarily. The items you see on the shelf are finished products, but "manufacturing" is involved in many different steps in the production process, and includes many things that don't appear on the shelves of your local stores.

Where do you think the shelves themselves -- and other components of a retail store -- are produced?

[MEGoody]

The June payroll jobs report did not receive much attention due to the July 4 holiday, but the depressing 21st century job performance of the U.S. economy continues unabated.

Even when not getting struck on the head, Chicken Little still runs around screaming, "They sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

[Maria S]

"You are actually quite ignorant concerning what is happening in this country. I have a BS with honors in Computer Science (Engineering based), with Physics and Math "areas". I graduated in 1972, so I've been in the industry for over 30 years. I have four eight-foot bookshelves crammed with books about my trade ... and I have read them all. Yet, it is difficult to find a decent job in the field now."


Actually I know A LOT about Computer Science...and having multiple degrees and lots of books is no guarantee you'll find a decent job. As you probably already know, the computer industry is changing, literally, every day. And if you are going to keep up, you have to change, too.

A good friend of mine is making a bundle these days...he has NO degrees, learned how to take apart and put a computer back together on his kitchen table, and now works out of his house. He is ALSO a classic geek, more of a hermit than anything, but is also making quite a good living for himself and his family.

Life is about adapting; you learn to be a survivor by adapting and offering something to the public that has yet to be offered, then making us believe we can't live without your invention. Buggys and buggy whips are no longer relevant; now we can't live without our cars.

[brownsfan]

"Higher education and its promotion is a giant scam.

But by all means, let's keep blaming the kids."

Actually, higher education is a club. Almost anyone can join. I will admit, there are those that aren't suited for college, but there are also skilled trades available as a career.
Even with a BA, kids can get jobs that they would never get without a degree. My degree is in electronics, yet I am in a programming related field. And I have seen bigger "misfits" in terms of the field of work versus course of study.
As evil as I think offshoring is, there is still opportunity here. Get a degree, in anything, and be willing to work hard, and you'll be ok.
That's what I tell my kids, and I believe that.

[Dat Mon]

YOU SAID..."Besides, who wants to bother those spoiled little Americans, just out of college, with their brains full of liberal mush...many of them are too busy wandering the malls and still trying "to find themselves"."

Do YOU yourself, have a technical degree(s) in science or engineering from a good AMERICAN University?

Are YOU familiar with a typical hard core technical curriculum...and the amount of work it takes to get a technical degree?

Do YOU make your money working in high tech?

[colorado tanker]

In the 70's and 80's economists declared that 5% unemployment was "full" employment, that the rate could not possibly go lower. Of course, Reaganomics proved them wrong.