On Friday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., took his best shot at finding a downside to the estimated 250,000 jobs that employers added in October, which kept the unemployment rate steady at 3.7 percent.
“The latest jobs numbers may look good, but we must not forget they coexist with a huge deficit-ballooning GOP tax break that went mainly to the wealthy, for which we will pay a price for down the road,” the senator said. “When the average family sees their healthcare costs go up because of Republican actions, these numbers will mean little.”
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Friday’s numbers are roughly 30 percent better than what analysts had predicted, which is obviously good news. Of course, there are the usual caveats, including the “U6” unemployment numbers, which are considered a broader measure of actual unemployment in the U.S. As it happens, these figures are also impressive.
Friday’s U6 estimate, which includes “all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers Labor force status,” currently rests at 7.4 percent, which is basically unchanged from last’s month’s estimate of 7.5 percent. Like the overall unemployment number, this metric has declined by more than half since January 2012, when U6 registered at 15.2 percent. Another worthwhile metric is the difference between unemployment and U6. As it turns out, the average difference between these two figures has declined by almost a half since 2012. Back then, the average gap between unemployment and U6 was roughly 6.6 points. Now, the average difference is 3.8 points, according to Labor Department data.
In short, Schumer’s attempt Friday morning to find the downside to the jobs report is somewhat humorous. It’s a valiant effort to spin the numbers in a bad light, but come on. This is almost as funny as when Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rolled out the exact same complaint this summer after the Labor Department reported the U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs in May. It’s almost as funny as when Pelosi and other Democrats in her caucus used the word “crumbs” to characterize the thousands of dollars voters received as a result of the GOP tax reform bill.
I just can’t decide whether their attempts to dismiss good economic news is funnier than ostensibly serious journalists doing the same — like when the Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale took offense in September after another journalist had the temerity to refer to the falling unemployment rate as “historically low.”
It’s just the worst when things are looking up, especially when a Republican is in office.
