CHICAGO - Friday's jobs report shows the last time this much of America's labor force has given up on finding good-paying jobs was in 1978, during Jimmy Carter's "malaise" years.
The Labor Department said today that the unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 percent, the lowest in nearly five years. But it fell because more Americans stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed. The proportion of Americans working or looking for work fell to its lowest level in 35 years.
Most of the hiring in August was in lower-paying industries such as retail, restaurants and bars. Retailers added 44,000 jobs and hotels, restaurants and bars added 27,000. Temp hiring rose by 13,000.
July's job gains were just 104,000, the fewest in more than a year and down from the previous estimate of 162,000. June's figure was revised to 172,000, from 188,000. The revisions lowered total hiring over those two months by 74,000.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus blamed Obamacare for much of the bad news:
“The good news is that a handful of America’s unemployed millions did find work last month. The bad news is that America could be doing so much better,” said Chairman Priebus. “Sadly, President Obama continues to stall job-creating projects like the Keystone Pipeline, while refusing to admit that his signature policy, ObamaCare, is a job-killer.
“The ObamaCare train wreck gets worse every day, and as a result job creation has suffered. Too many businesses can’t afford to hire, and too many Americans can’t find jobs—no matter how hard they look. ObamaCare isn’t improving health care, but it is making our economy ill.
“It’s not fair that Democrats’ pursuit of a misguided agenda has left so many Americans without good-paying jobs, and it's deeply troubling that the labor force participation rate is at the lowest level in 35 years. Republicans in Congress and Republican governors across the country will continue to fight on the side of the American worker.”
