I'm struggling with something. This is different than calculus or organic chemistry. This is something everyone should understand - but I don't get it. I swear I'm not trying to be political about this but I'm sure there is politics hidden in here somewhere.
Here's what has me befuddled. The US Department of Labor, through it's Bureau of Labor Statistics, publishes monthly the gains or losses in jobs within the whole economy. Right next to that, you can find the gains or losses in wages for the period and the unemployment rate. I think they do this no matter which party is in the White House or which controls the Congress.
The other day, the Bureau reported that our economy gained 215,000 jobs in February. I looked back and found that our economy added 517,000 jobs in January and that the average monthly gain in jobs has been over 356,000. To top that off, the economy added 12,100,000 jobs in the last three years. New jobs! Wow!
Now I always assumed that the Labor Department took a monthly survey to come up with these figures. It makes sense. It does until you find out that they also report unemployment in our country has risen in February to 3.4% of the workforce. That means that we have thousands of new jobs, millions over the last three years, and unemployment is on the rise. Good grief!
The only way this balances is, if in addition to the businesses who reported new jobs available, there are also businesses who have less jobs available. We can't be adding this many jobs and still be at a deficit in jobs being filled; can we? Shouldn't the figure reported be the net of jobs added less jobs subtracted? That would make more sense to my simple mind.
Maybe I'm just lost in the woods (or the swamp). Someone please explain this to me like I'm a fifth grader. Thanks.
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