In June, the Biden administration expressed delight over the national jobs report, hailing it as a success of ‘Bidenomics’ in action. However, beneath the rosy narrative, a startling revelation came to light from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: more than five million unemployed Americans were surprisingly left out of the official 3.6% unemployment rate.
🗣 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: The government has finally admitted that millions of unemployed Americans were not included in the latest job stats.
Despite President Biden's claims of "Bidenomics in action," the Bureau of Labor Statistics report reveals that over 5.4 million Americans… pic.twitter.com/Dpk50MiU7K
— Hank (@GCapital_LLC) August 1, 2023
The report disclosed that 5.4 million individuals who desired jobs weren’t considered unemployed as they hadn’t actively sought employment in the preceding four weeks or were unavailable for work. To be counted as unemployed for official purposes, individuals must show specific efforts to seek jobs, including participation in government-linked job-seeking initiatives.
Alarming data emerged regarding the long-term unemployed, with 1.1 million people enduring joblessness for 27 weeks or longer, constituting 18.5% of the total unemployed population.
The report also highlighted the rising trend of part-time jobs, with 452,000 individuals employed part-time for economic reasons in June, totaling 4.2 million.
These workers desired full-time jobs but had to settle for reduced hours due to slack work or difficulty finding full-time positions. As per the Federal Reserve’s documentation, the labor force participation rate remained stagnant at 62.6%, failing to match the pre-pandemic levels seen during the Trump era.
On the flip side, the government sector saw growth, adding 60,000 jobs in June, with an average of 63,000 job additions each month in 2023 and 23,000 jobs monthly in 2022. Despite the administration’s optimism, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts a more realistic outlook.
The CBO foresees a slowdown in real gross domestic product (GDP), projecting a meager 0.4% annual rate during the second half of 2023, leading to rising unemployment. By the end of 2023, the unemployment rate is estimated to reach 4.1% and then further climb to 4.7% by the end of 2024, slightly dropping to 4. % in 2025.
According to the CBO’s recent report, the number of job additions is expected to dwindle from an average of 298,000 per month in the first half of 2023 to 111,000 per month in the latter half. This slowdown will translate into an increase in the number of unemployed individuals from 5.9 million to 7.8 million by the end of 2024.
Only in early 2025, the unemployment rate is projected to begin a gradual decline, reaching 4.5% by the end of the year.
