Tapsearch Com EditorNew York Times dysfunctional reporting
New York Times economic writer Louis Uchitelle says the hiring of temps may be a good sign
One of the greatest problem behind our economic crisis is the way unemployment reporting is massaged. This is an economic measurement is based on tricks and there is no real way to compare unemployment with the past. It is flawed measurement used to judge a good or bad economy.
So when Louis Uchtitelle says Surge in hiring of temps may be a good sign , he in effect is writing a cover story hiding the real facts of our times. In the past, primarily only full time jobs were used in reporting unemployment. I do not know when this changed but it did. I have studied the various methods of gathering data they use to gage unemployment for years but it is still a mystery to me.
I do know that in the past the unemployment rate was related to how many people went to the unemployment offices to apply for unemployment payments. (See our Tapart News site . However in our times, only about 40 percent of all workers qualify for unemployment and we write about this at Ethics Box noting economic ethics is dead and hunting for a job in never never land. So, about 60 percent of all workers are in limbo when it comes to real unemployment reporting. And the term underemployment that was once measured and reported has faded away. No one seems to know how to really count the 60 percent in limbo.
I know from the past, temporary jobs were not measured as it they are today - they were calculated for what they are - temporary. About thirty years ago, there were only a few temporary help offices in major cities like Cleveland Ohio and casual labor hiring halls were few. This sector has grown tenfold in the past two decades with no saying much about it.
I also know companies who keep hiring temporary workers for six month trial period and never make it to the seventh month. Workers just go through a revolving door every six months. This is the state of our economy today where even someone making only $50 a week is considered employed.
In the 1990s, a low point was hit in places like Silicon Valley where top technical publication reported high tech workers would go on strike if they had the chance because companies like Microsoft were firing full time workers and going to contract and temps. White collar strikes did not come because so many were clutching on any job they could find. There were also reports lawyers for workers who were being fired because of age said workers more than 40 who lost their jobs in the computer industry most likely would never find another one close to the one they lost. It was also reported that one third of workers age 55 or older who lost their jobs never found another job. There were others who reported that 50 percent of all young blacks in the inner city were unemployed.
So when someone like Louis Uchitelle from the New York Times who knows better, writes how temp jobs will lead to permanent ones is something that is an indeed ethically dead judgement of the real world of hiring and firing. Worst yet it covers for all the tricky statistics that hide the real problems of our times.
Trick or Treat job reporting in the silent depression of our times
And this is the part that amazes me - Utchitelle says The rising employment of temp workers is not all bad. However uncertain their status , they count in government statistics as wage-earning workers adding to the employment rolls and helping bring down the monthly jobs loss to just 11,000 in November What does this mean? I guess if someone finds that $50 per week job, they are considered a regular employed person.
In the 1950's when unemployment rates were based on primarily full time workers with benefits, a temp job that pays $50 per week would only add up to $5 a week back then. Baby sitters made that much and I guarantee you , they were not part of any unemployment rates or reporting. In the past, this would be a bad joke and political leaders would have taken it as a very serious violation of ethics in economic reporting.
One of the greatest problem behind our economic crisis is the way unemployment reporting is massaged. This is an economic measurement is based on tricks and there is no real way to compare unemployment with the past. It is flawed measurement used to judge a good or bad economy.
So when Louis Uchtitelle says Surge in hiring of temps may be a good sign , he in effect is writing a cover story hiding the real facts of our times. In the past, primarily only full time jobs were used in reporting unemployment. I do not know when this changed but it did. I have studied the various methods of gathering data they use to gage unemployment for years but it is still a mystery to me.
I do know that in the past the unemployment rate was related to how many people went to the unemployment offices to apply for unemployment payments. (See our Tapart News site . However in our times, only about 40 percent of all workers qualify for unemployment and we write about this at Ethics Box noting economic ethics is dead and hunting for a job in never never land. So, about 60 percent of all workers are in limbo when it comes to real unemployment reporting. And the term underemployment that was once measured and reported has faded away. No one seems to know how to really count the 60 percent in limbo.
I know from the past, temporary jobs were not measured as it they are today - they were calculated for what they are - temporary. About thirty years ago, there were only a few temporary help offices in major cities like Cleveland Ohio and casual labor hiring halls were few. This sector has grown tenfold in the past two decades with no saying much about it.
I also know companies who keep hiring temporary workers for six month trial period and never make it to the seventh month. Workers just go through a revolving door every six months. This is the state of our economy today where even someone making only $50 a week is considered employed.
In the 1990s, a low point was hit in places like Silicon Valley where top technical publication reported high tech workers would go on strike if they had the chance because companies like Microsoft were firing full time workers and going to contract and temps. White collar strikes did not come because so many were clutching on any job they could find. There were also reports lawyers for workers who were being fired because of age said workers more than 40 who lost their jobs in the computer industry most likely would never find another one close to the one they lost. It was also reported that one third of workers age 55 or older who lost their jobs never found another job. There were others who reported that 50 percent of all young blacks in the inner city were unemployed.
So when someone like Louis Uchitelle from the New York Times who knows better, writes how temp jobs will lead to permanent ones is something that is an indeed ethically dead judgement of the real world of hiring and firing. Worst yet it covers for all the tricky statistics that hide the real problems of our times.
Trick or Treat job reporting in the silent depression of our times
And this is the part that amazes me - Utchitelle says The rising employment of temp workers is not all bad. However uncertain their status , they count in government statistics as wage-earning workers adding to the employment rolls and helping bring down the monthly jobs loss to just 11,000 in November What does this mean? I guess if someone finds that $50 per week job, they are considered a regular employed person.
In the 1950's when unemployment rates were based on primarily full time workers with benefits, a temp job that pays $50 per week would only add up to $5 a week back then. Baby sitters made that much and I guarantee you , they were not part of any unemployment rates or reporting. In the past, this would be a bad joke and political leaders would have taken it as a very serious violation of ethics in economic reporting.
