In odd paradox, jobs disappearing as economy heals

From the New York Times via the Houston Chronicle:

What surprises many economists is that the job shedding has continued despite what they describe as an extraordinary level of economic stimulus. Low interest rates, tax cuts and rebates, a rise in military spending, mortgage refinancings, growing corporate profits, even a long-awaited improvement in business spending on new equipment and software all have contributed to the rise in the economic growth rate.

But jobs are disappearing, and employers continue to resist adding hours for their existing workers. Economists warn that without payroll expansion and rising income from wages, sustaining the economic growth will be difficult once the stimulus weakens.

For more, click here.

This is simply a false start, the kind of unsustained economic surge followed by further recession that the Japanese have been experiencing for years.

I heard an analyst earlier today on NPR describe this as a "job loss" recovery, as opposed to a "jobless" recovery. This presents a very important question: what, exactly, does it mean for the economy to "improve?" In today's parlance, a "recovering economy" refers only to business, not to citizens. The above linked article clearly shows that, contrary to the conventional neo-liberal wisdom, a "rising tide," in fact, does not "lift all boats."

Neo-liberal reforms have allowed American businesses to "outsource" good, steady jobs to the wage-cheap third world--this improves bottom lines and quarterly profits, but, in the long term, destroys the overall economy. Fewer jobs means fewer consumers; fewer consumers means more recession. This trend has been going on since the 1980s. Remember Ross Perot's (nut that he is) giant sucking sound of jobs being lost because of NAFTA? This "job loss" recovery is the end result of the race to the bottom for low wages.

Sure the economy is improving...if you're rich. For everybody else, things are getting worse, not better.

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