USA Today sees dream of welfare state collapsing along with US private sector, RECORD FEWEST MEN worked in 2010

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4/13/11, "More Americans leaving the workforce," USA Today, Dennis Cauchon

"The share of the population that is working fell to its lowest level last year since women started entering the workforce in large numbers three decades ago, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Only 45.4% of Americans had jobs in 2010, the lowest rate since 1983 and down from a peak of 49.3% in 2000. Last year, just 66.8% of men had jobs,

• the lowest on record.

The bad economy, an aging population and a plateau in women working are contributing to changes that pose serious challenges for

• financing the nation’s social programs.

“What’s wrong with the economy may be speeding up trends that are already happening,” says Marc Goldwein, policy director of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan group favoring smaller deficits.

For example, job troubles appear to have slowed a trend of people working later in life, putting

• more pressure on Social Security, he says.

Another change: the bulk of those not working has shifted from children to adults.

In 2000, the nation had roughly the same number of children and non-working adults. Since then, the population of non-working adults has grown 27 million while the nation added

• just 3 million children under 18....

•Men leave. Working-age men have been dropping out of the labor force for decades. The disappearance quickened when construction and manufacturing jobs vanished in the recession from December 2007 through June 2009. Until the 1960s,

• more than 80% of men worked.

•Women stay. The trend of women getting jobs offset the loss of working men until the late 1990s. The share of women holding jobs rose from 36% in 1960 to 57% in 1995, then leveled off. The rate was 56% in 2010.

The aging of 77 million Baby Boomers born from 1946 through 1964 from children to workers to retirees is changing the relationship between workers and dependents.

• Retirees generally are more costly to support than children.

The average public school education costs $10,000 a year. The average retiree gets $25,000 a year in benefits — $13,000 in Social Security and Medicare benefits of $12,000.

In all, taxpayers will spend about $125,000 educating a child and $500,000 caring for a senior, in today’s dollars at current life expectancies, according to federal education and retirement program data. The costs are paid differently, too. State and local governments, through sales and property taxes, pay most education expenses.

• The federal government, through income taxes, pays most retiree costs.

“No matter how wealthy you are, you have a problem if half the population is not working and depending on those who are,” says John Goodman, president of the conservative National Center for Policy Analysis.

• “Wherever you look, we’ve overpromised.”"...

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How inconvenient for World War II to have happened. ed.

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March 2011 jobs number was almost entirely women, 93,000 were only part time jobs.

4/2/11, "Men vs. Women: Digging into the BLS Jobs Data," Global Economic Analysis, Mike Shedlock

The number of men employed age 20+ only increased by 4000.

• The number of employed women increased by 247,000.

"Thus, improvement in Friday's jobs numbers came entirely from women, at least according to the household survey....

• Household Data Numbers in Thousands

Household Data - Men, 20 years and over
Category	Feb 2011	March 2011	Difference
Labor Force	78,795	78,764	-31
Employed	71,954	71,959	+4
Unemployed	6,841	6,805	-36
Unemployment rate	8.7	8.6	-0.1

The unemployment rate among men 20 years and older dropped only because the male labor force dropped by 31,000. Those employed barely rose by 4,000. Contrast with stats for women 20 years and older below.

Household Data - Women, 20 years and over
Category	Feb 2011	March 2011	Difference
Labor Force	68,802	68,898	+96
Employed	63,319	63,566	+247
Unemployed	5,483	5,332	-151
Unemployment rate	8.5	8.3	-0.2

The labor pool for women rose by 96,000. The number of employed women rose by 247,000 vs. 4,000 for men.....

• 93,000 jobs were part-time jobs (table at link)."

Source data: "Please note the headline number +216,000 is from establishment survey (payroll data), while the unemployment rate and demographic breakdowns are from the household survey (phone survey)."

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Jobs are not coming back for the middle class.

4/1/11, "More Jobs Doesn’t Necessarily Mean More Good Jobs," WSJ.com, Sara Murray

"Of the 230,000 private-sector jobs created in March,

• 199,000 of those were in the service sector." ...

37,000 of the new workers were in the leisure and hospitality industry.

"Academics have pointed out that, as jobs are coming back, they’re returning at the highest and the lowest levels. But the middle-class is being squeezed."...

"Temporary hiring and leisure jobs – both low-paying sectors — made up such a

• large share of the jobs added...

As Americans return to the labor force, more could end up in positions like the 17,700 added in retail trade in March. Such jobs not only tend to come with lower pay, but they are also less likely to offer health benefits or retirement plans that provide an added layer of economic stability."

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4/1/11, "Hidden Bad Signs in a Good Jobs Report," WSJ.com, Phil Izzo

"Finally, there are still some lagging sectors. Amid the broader jobs increases, construction continued to shed jobs, a reminder that the housing market continues to struggle. Meanwhile, local governments facing budget crunches are shedding jobs, 15,000 last month, and more cuts are on the table across the country."

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Reference: 4/7/11, "As retailers add jobs, few seem career-worthy," AP



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