Not Just Any Jobs

Many of the numbers did not change much in the latest BLS jobs report. The official unemployment rate was 4.3%, and the rate has been around that number for the past year. Real unemployment, as illustrated in NJFAN’s Full Count under Hidden Unemployment, is twice as high. As usual, African-American rates are more than twice as high as white rates. And even the official (and thus underestimated) unemployment rate for black teens was 23.9%. I am pretty sure that groups facing that high level of unemployment must have an extra amount of hidden unemployment. There has to be a lot of discouragement, and many people who give up the job-search and so, are not counted as unemployed.

While NJFAN’s amplified estimate shows that high unemployment continues, the BLS survey of non-farm employees has recently shown growth. The story of these numbers was pathetic for most months from February 2025 through February of 2026. But things have ticked up with average gains of about 200,000 in the last three months. That occurrence comes despite high prices and other things that are roiling the economy and job markets. Some employers must be optimistic about things. For example, the Leisure and Hospitality sector added 144,000 jobs in the last three months. Perhaps that reflects the disproportionate impact of spending by those who have plenty of money to spend, and perhaps also the urge that some of us feel to get out of the house, away from the TV, and away from thinking about the latest news. Or it’s just due to the World Cup.

Many fundamentals about work need deep reform. Average wages stink, and on average they are now losing buying power to inflation. Most state and local minimum wage laws are unbelievably low. I would think it is easy to see that even $20 an hour is poverty-level. Well, maybe not, if you believe that $40,000 a year is plenty. Many politicians must think it is. By the way, it’s a tired song but the current federal minimum wage should get a public burial. ($7.25).

Meanwhile, the fantasy of bringing back factory jobs continues. Yes, such jobs sometimes pay well. Yes, manual labor should be respected. I’ve done it myself as a part-time house painter and it felt good to look at my work when it turned out well, which was almost always the case, I am sure. But factory jobs are not coming back. Officials in the administration claim every month that the number of manufacturing jobs is increasing, but they are not. They were 12,651,000 in May of 2025 and they were 12,605,000 in May of 2026.

Meanwhile, some blue-collar jobs should be replaced or re-formed. There are smart people in the labor movement, in government, in the universities, and elsewhere who could plan not only for more jobs, and not only for more jobs with decent compensation, but for jobs that are healthier for workers and other people. Right now the president of the United States wants to spend federal dollars--700,000,000 of them—to subsidize a poisonous substance called coal. There is plenty of romance around the history of coal-miner struggles and unions, but there is nothing romantic about the job itself, nor about burning a product that increases global warming and makes more people sick.

There are other unhealthy jobs that need fixing. Construction work is normally considered a good job, but sometimes it comes with high suicide rates, due to a combination of tough working conditions, plenty of substance abuse, and easy access to guns. Should one of the best-paying job categories for workers be one that has a high death rate?

We need more jobs to get to real full employment. The private sector is not going to get there on its own. Never has, never will. We need more jobs that are good in many ways, not just in compensation, but jobs that are less dangerous and unhealthy. Such jobs won’t come from the free market.