Peter Schiff: The Hidden Ills in America’s Recent Job Creation

In his latest podcast episode, Peter uncovered the unsettling realities of recent job market trends, focusing primarily on the December jobs report. He casts a light on the sickly nature of recent job creation:

Unexpected Surge in Job Numbers:

On the surface, the December BLS non-farm payroll report looked stellar, showing a significant increase in employment with 216,000 jobs added, surpassing the expected 154,000. 

But these numbers have dark downsides. Like last month, and before it, this month’s numbers are likely to be revised downwards. 

Peter explains:

It’s just another great jobs report where we beat the estimate!” This is just a game. They’ve been playing this game all year because 10 of the last 11 jobs reports have been revised down significantly in subsequent months,”

Positive Headlines, Disappointing Realities:

This is a pattern with US jobs numbers, and not a random one:

That is not a coincidence. If something happens 10 out of 11 times, it’s not random chance. Toss a coin see if you can get 10 out of 11 Tails or 10 out of 11 Heads. You’re never going to do it. Don’t even try, you’re wasting your time. This is by design.”

Recent headlines are welcomed by the Biden administration, which desperately wants credit for something. 

But here is the painful reality: many Americans are losing their full-time jobs. Peter states:

Nobody is talking about what’s happening. Look at the household survey, which comes out the same time as this establishment survey. 1.5 million full-time jobs were lost in December. During the month of this great jobs report we lost 1.5 million full-time jobs.

I’m sure the people who lost those good jobs are not thinking that this is a great economy. That’s why Biden’s approval rating is so low. All these people losing these good jobs, they’re not exactly thrilled with Bidenomics.”

Falling Full-time Jobs and Rising Part-time Jobs:

In December, there was an increase of 762,000 part-time jobs. There was also an increase in the number of people working multiple jobs.

This is not what people want:

People who have jobs don’t want a second job. They don’t want a third job. This is not good news. Why are people working so hard? Because they need the money to pay the rent, to pay the electric bills, to buy food. That’s why people are working two and three jobs.”

Job Losses Mean Lower Labor Force Participation And Technically Lower Unemployment:

Meanwhile, the loss in jobs has produced a decline in the labor force participation. This lowered official unemployment figures. The Biden administration is spinning this as a positive, but it is hardly good news:

This was another big headline for Biden. The official unemployment rate dropped again to 3.7%. But one of the reasons was the huge collapse in labor force participation, which went from 62.8 to 62.5. That is a big drop in one month.”

The Created Jobs Are A Sign of Sickness, Not Health:

The two greatest categories of job growth were government and healthcare at 52,000 and 38,000, respectively. Government job creation, in particular, puts a drag on society.

So much job growth in these two areas demonstrates sickness, not health:

You can’t save your whole economy built on those types of jobs. But that’s what we’re getting – government jobs, healthcare jobs. And a lot of the health care is being funded by government deficits.”