The U.S. job market turned weaker last month, dashing hopes for an economic rebound.
A report from the Labor Department on Friday shows employers cut 92,000 jobs in February, when economists had expected the U.S. would continue adding jobs, albeit at a sluggish pace. The unemployment rate inched up to 4.4%.
Job gains for December and January were also revised downward, with December now showing a net loss 17,000 jobs.
The weaker than expected jobs report comes as Americans are already anxious about the high cost of living. Those affordability concerns will likely be amplified as the war in Iran has triggered a sharp rise in energy prices. AAA reports the average price of gasoline jumped another 7 cents overnight, to $3.32 a gallon. That’s 21 cents higher than this time last year.
After the Great Financial Crisis it became clear to me that weasel word “economists” either have no idea what they’re doing, or don’t actually serve the public. These days I’m leaning more towards the latter.
Not to say that the greats like Adam Smith were unqualified. But the legion of yes-men who have been drinking corporate kool-aid since Nixon don’t work for us. Their job is to create a convincing narrative as to why it’s OK to have a visibly unhealthy economy.
Don’t trust unnamed “economists” in the news. Look for specific people who have predicted what the economy actually does, and listen to them.