Labor Day, USA: Barbeque pits, picnics, kickoff weekend for American football, most private and public offices and businesses: CLOSED. And don’t forget back to school for the kids. We know the routine, although it occasionally changes.
But the sad truth is, America can no longer boast or take pride in the condition of its workforce in the year 2012. Things have not been worse for employment and our economy in 70 years, and uncertainty anchors a mood of pessimism for investors.
“Labor Day 2012 in America” is oxymoronic: To celebrate labor at a time when, by accident or design, we are degrading the nation’s job creation climate is oxymoronic.
The American workforce today is not the same as it was a century ago. In 1900, the private sector was well over 95 percent of the labor force, with almost 40 percent employed in agriculture. Today, the government sector has more than tripled to 16 percent of employment in America, with agriculture accounting for less than 1 percent of the workforce.
During the course of this recession, the rate of labor force participation has dropped to its lowest level in 30 years, 63.7 percent. Millions have left the labor force. They are not unemployed; they are no longer available or interested in work, or they have given up on ever finding it.
Despite its frailties, shortcomings and problems, the United States economy continues to be among the best in the world. The chance to improve your situation in life by your own work is still known as the American Dream. But because of unchecked internal factors, most notably runaway debt and deficit spending, America’s economy is on the decline.
But the sad truth is, America can no longer boast or take pride in the condition of its workforce in the year 2012. Things have not been worse for employment and our economy in 70 years, and uncertainty anchors a mood of pessimism for investors.
“Labor Day 2012 in America” is oxymoronic: To celebrate labor at a time when, by accident or design, we are degrading the nation’s job creation climate is oxymoronic.
The American workforce today is not the same as it was a century ago. In 1900, the private sector was well over 95 percent of the labor force, with almost 40 percent employed in agriculture. Today, the government sector has more than tripled to 16 percent of employment in America, with agriculture accounting for less than 1 percent of the workforce.
During the course of this recession, the rate of labor force participation has dropped to its lowest level in 30 years, 63.7 percent. Millions have left the labor force. They are not unemployed; they are no longer available or interested in work, or they have given up on ever finding it.
Despite its frailties, shortcomings and problems, the United States economy continues to be among the best in the world. The chance to improve your situation in life by your own work is still known as the American Dream. But because of unchecked internal factors, most notably runaway debt and deficit spending, America’s economy is on the decline.
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