The Usual Numbers

As usual, the only number they showed us was that 288,000 new jobs had been created, and used that number to claim that the economy is gaining speed. If your goal is consumer purchasing power, perhaps that conclusion is a little optimistic.

They did they mention, for instance, that in that same report is a same message that part time jobs, voluntary and involuntary, soared by 1,115,000 in the same month that saw 288,000 new jobs. That means that using the best case scenario in which all of the 288,000 new jobs were full time jobs, then 827,000 other full time jobs became part time jobs. That's roughly equivalent to a loss of 413,500 full time jobs, which outweighs the 288,000 jobs created, and means the job market actually shrank by the equivalent of 125,500 full time jobs.

Because part time does not have the consumer spending power of full time.