The Jobs Just Aren’t There Now

Well, we’ve heard a lot of other promising indicators that the economy may be on the mend, however, the most important factor, the number of jobs that are being created vs. cut by companies large and small, still continues to decline, and that is not a good sign at all for a sustainable and real recovery, according to most economists who are worth their salt. In my opinion as well, it is foolish to think we are anywhere near full recovery mode or relief from this dismal new reality, without the jobs being there that we need to permanently increase the GDP and the consumer spending that actually sustains the capitalist environment that we have grown to have a love/hate relationship here in the US.

Jobs in the last month were cut more than were forecasted, as well as the number of people claiming unemployment benefits, which increased more than Wall Street and economists had forecasted, which is compounded bad news for this recovery period that we were all hoping for. Until we see those numbers start to rise, we are still in a lot of trouble, and there needs to be more discussion around jobs creation in the government if we are to hope to jump start this whole process of getting back on track.

We are starting to see the true consumer numbers now, especially in the month of November which is coming quickly, because huge government funded stimulus programs that helped to fuel the purchase of new homes and cars, are ending. That will tell a true story about how much trouble we’re still in, since people won’t be rushing to buy houses to get that awesome $8k credit, or rushing to buy cars due to the great deal of the Cash for Clunkers program.

We will finally see a more true portrait of the state of consumerism when those programs are no longer enticing would be purchases out of the wood work. When the dust settles, there are numerous economists that fear the true numbers are going to tank the stock market again. Who knows though, this stock market has been so unpredictable that you just never know what’s going to happen.

The market went way up before anyone thought it would, so you just don’t know what the mass mentality is going to be, or quite what drives it any more.