Gov't Closes in on Private Sector Job Creation

State Sen. Nancy Cassis (R-Novi) recently said, "Government doesn't create jobs, the private sector does."

That's not true under the Bush administration. The government is responsible for 40% of the new jobs created last month according to latest figures which show 39,000 of the total 97,000 jobs gains in February came from federal, state and local governments. Private companies added only 58,000 jobs last month, which is the fewest since November 2004.

What kinds of private sector jobs grew the fastest?

Lower-paying professions were some of the fastest growing last month. Pay grew the most in February for workers in the leisure and hospitality industries, which have been adding workers rapidly in recent months. Restaurants and bars, in particular, have been growing, and last month they added 21,000 jobs.

Businesses also rushed to fill building services jobs, adding 11,300 positions for custodians, landscapers, exterminators and similar professions.

Some economists see the weak private sector job growth as troubling.

“In the short term, it doesn’t matter who’s writing the check, as long as checks are being written,” Mr. Matus said. “If we see government jobs making up the bulk of the employment growth in March and in April, then I would start to worry.”

In the short-term, these jobs are putting people to work, but taxpayers should worry too since tax dollars pay for these jobs. Meanwhile, although the private sector managed to add jobs in professions that couldn't be outsourced or off-shored, they also pay less than government jobs, which probably helps to explain this statistic from the BLS:

About 1.5 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in February--essentially unchanged from a year ago. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 375,000 discouraged workers in February, little different from a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them.

The government should count these people in their figures. It's not their fault good paying jobs have been outsourced and private sector jobs are growing the fastest in lower-paying professions. I'd be discouraged too. The private sector has done a bang-up job of increasing living standards for CEO's and top executives. When are they going to do something for the rest of us?