Employers Add Jobs at Fastest Rate in 17 Years

American companies gain more confidence in the economy by adding in 295,000 jobs in February. This marks the continued addition of jobs added above the 200,000 mark for 12 months.

Liberals carrying water for the Obama administration will tout this jobs report as a major success for the president, and it is typical for every president to get his due when the economy improves. But this development comes with some drawbacks. For one thing, these jobs did not boost wages, something that forces many Americans to work two or three jobs to make ends meet.

American companies gain more confidence in the economy by adding in 295,000 jobs in February. This marks the continued addition of jobs added above the 200,000 mark for 12 months.

Liberals carrying water for the Obama administration will tout this jobs report as a major success for the president, and it is typical for every president to get his due when the economy improves. But this development comes with some drawbacks. For one thing, these jobs did not boost wages, something that forces many Americans to work two or three jobs to make ends meet.

Employment Deception

The unemployment rate fell from 5.7 percent to 5.5 percent, but this does not factor in the people who stopped looking for work and have given up entirely. The amount of Americans searching for jobs has fallen to a 37-year low. Again, this ties into the wage factor. Americans fed up with the surplus of low-quality work have altogether abandoned the job market, and the government is doing little in the way of making the workforce more attractive to the public.

Wage Sector Growth

According to the jobs report, some of the highest of jobs added pertained to the low-wage sector. This includes retail jobs at 32,000 and hotels/restaurants at 60,000. But there is some good news in high-wage sector. Higher paying jobs such law, accounting and business added 51,000 jobs, construction gained 29,000, and the financial services field created 10,000 positions. In addition, the U.S. economy is growing at a faster pace than Europe. There was slow growth in the U.S. economy in 2014, but analysts are elated about the addition of jobs. But for many Americans, the economy still stinks, and Main Street is not feeling the same form of optimism as Wall Street.

Obamacare Effect on Job Growth

Low-wage work is one thing, but couple that with the growing number of employers who are downgrading their employees to part-time status to dodge the new health care regulations. This not only affects the amount of how much workers earn, but forces them to take another part-time position to pay the bills. Staples recently announced that it might lay off workers who are on the payroll for more than 25 hours a week. Under Obamacare, companies like Staples could face a $3,000 fine for each person who is not getting benefits. The addition of the healthcare law has forced many employees who were not making enough in the first place to get even less money by forcing acceptance of part-time work.