The nation’s modest job growth soldiers on with yet another underwhelming jobs report. The economy added 169,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 percent, the lowest in nearly five years. The percentage of Americans either working or looking for work fell to 63.2 percent, the lowest in 35 years.
The government is going to hammer home the 169,000 number and the slight drop in unemployment, but there’s no denying that this was a bad jobs report. You can cherry pick cheery numbers over the last year, but just look at the average of the last three months.
Best measure of the underlying pace of jobs growth is the 3-month average, which is +148k. That's BARELY enough to keep unemployment falling
— Justin Wolfers (@justinwolfers) September 6, 2013
Essentially, the job market is just keeping its head above water. And remember, those numbers can change. June’s job report was revised to 172,000 down from the initial gains of 188,000, and July dropped to 104,000 from 162,000. That’s 74,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.
Regular readers of this blog know about my obsession with infrastructure. But it would be a sound investment and equitable way to promote some job growth in the short and long term. It creates construction jobs at the regional level, and fosters smart economic development and equity at the neighborhood level. And it’s not like the public is opposed to it: A March Gallup poll found that seven in 10 people support spending on infrastructure to boost the economy.
But instead the government is preoccupied with pouring money into another civil war in the Middle East, while the economy back home continues struggling to find its footing.
The Equity Factor is made possible with the support of the Surdna Foundation.
Bill Bradley is a writer and reporter living in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in Deadspin, GQ, and Vanity Fair, among others.