middle income jobs – USA Gov Policy

In the aftermath of the election of 2016, America’s economy has made a significant comeback following a decade of recession and poor decision making in Washington. But you wouldn’t notice it from major news media reports.

Part of the problem established by the media’s replacement of objective coverage of the news with editorial opinion is that significant information simply does not get reported, outside of specialty publications and sources that happen to favor the political interests that gain from a particular piece of information.

Currently, many general media sources are ignoring or downplaying the national economic revival.

The Congressional Budget office (CBO) has reported that real GDP growth is relatively strong this year and next, as recent changes in fiscal policy add to existing momentum. Productivity growth, after the ravages of the recession and the Obama economy, are returning to nearly average over the past 25 years. The Trump Administration’s changes in fiscal policy have boosted incentives to work, save, and invest. CBO also estimates that receipts for the first seven months of fiscal year 2018 totaled $2,012 billion, a figure which is $83 billion more than the amount during the same period last year. That is somewhat surprising. Receipts collected in April, for example, were $30 billion to $40 billion larger than CBO expected.

The good news is, according to CBO, mostly related to economic activity in 2017 and may reflect stronger-than-expected income growth in that year.

Economic and business publications, unlike the general media, have noticed. Forbes notes that “A strong job market will likely lead to higher consumer spending in the summer months as employment and incomes keep growing. Inflation isn’t expected to be as volatile. HSBC estimates 1.9%, or thereabouts, for the foreseeable future.”

The temperature of the room ought to be in the civilian world. pharmacy online viagra I am sure you know that these products have different price ranges but, even when it comes to the product itself, you want the best product that will help you in acquiring rid of the issue. generic vs viagra One tablet cannot be repeated before you 24 buying tadalafil hours have been completed to the first pill. And it does not make 1 have an instant erection without having cialis buy india having physical sexual stimulation. The Hill reports that “Fourteen states have set new records for low unemployment rates in the last year, nearly a decade after the recession put millions of Americans out of work… Such a tight job market means businesses are competing for workers, rather than workers competing for scarce jobs.”

These aren’t abstract figures that are merely statistics good for Wall Street while not helpful to Main Street, a problem that was prevalent during the Obama Administration. Middle class employment is finally rising. The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly report disclosed that Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 164,000 in April, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 percent. More important than the overall statistic was the type of jobs that were increasing. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, manufacturing, and mining, solid middle class occupations which had been declining over the past decade as a result of poor policy decisions. BLS found that “In April, employment in professional and business services increased by 54,000. Over the past 12 months, the industry has added 518,000 jobs. Employment in manufacturing increased by 24,000 in April…Manufacturing employment

has risen by 245,000 over the year…In April, employment in mining increased by 8,000…Since a recent low in October 2016,employment in mining has risen by 86,000.

BLS also found that the median weekly earnings of wage and salary workers in the first quarter of 2018 Median weekly earnings of the nation’s 113.4 million full-time wage and salary workers was 1.8 percent higher than a year earlier.

In a statistic that may prove somewhat disruptive for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections, who heavily depend on black and Latino support, the Trump Administration’s economic policies have been particularly helpful to both those communities. The unemployment rate for black workers dropped to 6.6 percent, beating the previous record low of 6.8 percent set in December. Similarly, Hispanics had an historic low unemployment rate of 4.8%, matched once before in 2006.

Photo: U.S. Department of Labor

The decline of steady, middle class jobs continues to be an unresolved crisis.

According to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (BLS) the “official” U-6 unemployment rate increased from 9.6 to 9.7 from September of 2015 to September of 2016. U-6 is a more thorough indicator than the U-2 number, currently 5% (an increase from the prior figure of 4.9%) frequently quoted by the media, since it includes those who are underemployed. Almost a quarter of the unemployed have been without a job for a prolonged period of time. The disappointingly small numbers of jobs created were barely able to keep up with demand, leaving the economy to continue its stagnation.

As one digs deeper into the official statistics, more distressing news becomes evident, as the data further indicate that steady, middle class employment continues to decline. Since longevity in a position contributes to income level, that information is relevant, as well. The BLS reports that The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 4.2 years in January 2016, down from 4.6 years in January 2014.

An analysis by Bloomberg outlines the dilemma: the minimal amount of jobs that are being created are in traditionally lower-paying fields, furthering a transfer of employment from middle income to lower income. Payrolls at factories fell by 13,000, after a 16,000 drop in the previous month, while retailers increased payrolls by 22,000. Employment in leisure and hospitality rose 15,000.

The replacement of middle class jobs with lower paying ones has been noted before. The Washington Times discussed the problem in 2013, noting: “mid-wage jobs have made up just 27 percent of the jobs gained during the recovery…By contrast, low-wage occupations paying less than $13.83 per hour have utterly dominated the recovery, with 58 percent of the job gains since 2010.

Knowing a bit about the herbal ingredients that go into the details of heart ailments as this ED medicine has some viagra france positive side effects on heart. Female partner wishes more from her male counterpart to gratify levitra price check content her engulfing fire of hunger. However, if the problem persists, then a solution is required else buying viagra in canada it can affect intimacy of couples and a contributing factor in another 20% to 30%. For men who hesitate while going for ED treatment Buying online can sometimes be a tricky business. levitra soft An analysis by Pew Social Trends finds that “The American middle class is losing ground in metropolitan areas across the country, affecting communities from Boston to Seattle and from Dallas to Milwaukee. From 2000 to 2014 the share of adults living in middle-income households fell in 203 of the 229 U.S. metropolitan areas examined in a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data. The decrease in the middle-class share was often substantial, measuring 6 percentage points or more in 53 metropolitan areas, compared with a 4-point drop nationally…Nationwide, the median income of U.S. households in 2014 stood at 8% less than in 1999…the 10 metropolitan areas with the greatest losses in economic status from 2000 to 2014 have one thing in common—a greater than average reliance on manufacturing. Most of these areas, such as Springfield, OH, and Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI, are in the so-called Rust Belt. The areas not in the Rust Belt, such as Rocky Mount, NC, and Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC, are also industrial communities…”

According to the Alliance for American Manufacturing over 63,000 factories have closed since 2001, and 5.1 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2000. President Bill Clinton dramatic alteration in trade relations with China bears a great deal of responsibility for the manufacturing employment exodus. His “U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000” granted permanent normal trade relations with China.

Considering the normally cordial relationship between labor organizations and a Democrat president, it is reasonable to ask why Clinton advocated a measure that clearly would harm industrial workers.

Michael Bargo, Jr., writing in the American Thinker believes the problem began early in the Clinton presidency, on May 28, 1993, he issued Executive Order 12850, which “illegally shifted the decision-making role [about China’s trade status] to the Secretary of State… Clinton’s Executive Order was issued at a time when the U.S.-China trade deficit was only $18 billion a year. In 2015 the deficit was $367 billion.”

Bargo provides a suggested motive for the odd move: “just as the Clinton Foundation has been linked to relationships Hillary had to her speech payers and donors, Bill Clinton’s decision to send jobs to China by permanently controlling its MFN status has been linked to campaign donations. Boeing Company wanted the EO. Boeing was the parent company of the Loral Corporation, which donated $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee in June, 1994, according to a Washington Post report at the time. A nice reward to Clinton for his MFN status change. The Loral Corporation is a major developer of missile flight control software and at the time they wanted to launch satellites from China. Boeing also owned McDonnell-Douglas which in 1994 made an agreement with China to open a parts factory in Beijing. If this all seems oddly similar to the deals Hillary made with foundation campaign donors, well, that’s because it is.”

Quick Analysis

Ukraine’s Frozen Conflict

As we approach winter in the northern hemisphere, the war in Ukraine is beginning to resemble a “frozen conflict” from many perspectives. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently told the media he hopes the war will end faster once President-elect Trump takes over in January. Opinions in Moscow, however, differ from that of the Ukrainian leader. Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) needs to exclude Ukraine from joining in “exchange” for peace. If it does not, he says, then no end to the war is in sight. So far there is no Christmas solution. Several NATO countries, according to Vladimir Socor of the Jamestown Foundation, are tentatively considering “coalitions-of-the-willing” to provide security for Ukraine outside of the formal NATO framework. There is, however, no collective mechanism today under which such an arrangement is viable. According to the NATO Charter, while Ukraine is a NATO partner country, it may not join as a full member since it has not fulfilled the requirements for membership. That has not stopped NATO and allies from continuing “to provide Ukraine with unprecedented levels of support, helping to uphold its fundamental right to self-defence,” according to the organization. Socor says that keeping Ukraine out of NATO will not advance peace with Russia. Waiting for a peace settlement, he suggests, would only serve to encourage Moscow to continue the war indefinitely. Although the Biden Administration officially withdrew its support for Ukrainian membership in 2021, NATO maintains an “open door” policy toward membership-seeking countries. The current White House position led the way for European states to oppose Ukraine’s membership saying that a decision should be delayed until “conditions are met.” Biden pushed for changing “open door” to a “bridge” metaphor. It is not intended as an across-the-board NATO policy and has been implemented in the past on a case-by-case basis, says Socor. “The alliance’s open-door policy was not fully insulated from Russia’s non-statutory blocking power, and NATO-aspirant countries’ path toward membership was not always irreversible.” Russia has successfully blocked states like Georgia from joining, first in 2008 and again after the war in Ukraine began in 2014. Russia recognizes the value add of Ukraine to NATO is enormous and that Kyiv has a better case than some other nations. Putin’s invasion was, in part, intended to foreclose that option. By 2021, Moscow was pushing hard to maximize its war objectives, which included further annexations of Ukrainian territory. A main goal for Putin was, and is, to ensure there is no Ukraine left to join NATO. As President-elect Trump prepares to assume office in January, he is faced with the historical challenges presented by the war. Post-conflict security guarantees were the center of several proposals made during the 2023 military stalemate. The incoming Trump Administration has yet to outline how it intends to handle the Russia-Ukraine war. Analysts in Washington believe that the new Administration will expect its European allies to guarantee the majority of Ukraine’s security needs. As we approach 2025, several European nations have acknowledged that they do not view Ukraine as eligible for NATO membership as it would draw the organization into the middle of the conflict. Others want to wait until the war is over or pending a “peace” settlement before considering Ukrainian membership. Socor reports that some “influential voices” are suggesting that “Kyiv should join NATO after “freezing” the war along a stable armistice line, de facto accepting Ukraine’s partition, with NATO security guarantees applying de jure to the government-controlled territory only.” This would mean starting accession talks soon with the actual talks to commence only after a ceasefire is in place. Trump arrives in Washington at a time when Putin’s hybrid strategies of war in Ukraine have eviscerated commonly-held differences between war and peace. “Absent a political consensus in NATO over Ukrainian membership, certain European allies, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron, are holding informal consultations about post-conflict security guarantees to Kyiv by NATO members outside of NATO’s framework,” according to the Jamestown Foundation. The Biden Administration downplayed the discussions on possible forms of military assistance and defense industry cooperation by sending only an Assistant Secretary of State. For a European peace to hold the Trump Administration would need to formally extend the United States’ nuclear deterrence to Ukraine. Options under discussion in Europe include a “coalition of the resolute” to deploy forces to Ukraine as part of a possible armistice package, deterring further Russian attacks, says Secor. European officials are also debating, without any agreement, whether its military forces could perform non-combat logistical roles to free Ukrainian forces to fight. None of the possible courses of action has moved forward as all eyes are waiting on the incoming Trump Administration for clues about its intended level of support for a NATO framework and other non-NATO proposals. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept.