US job numbers continue to surprise, with last week’s report showing 303,000 new jobs in March. Incumbent politicians spin this for all it’s worth.
However, it was the fourth consecutive month with declining full-time employment. In fact, there are 1.4 million fewer full-time jobs than last year. And while the economy overall is posting a good headline GDP growth (driven by massive & unsustainable fiscal stimulus packages), there are fewer job openings, more labor turnover, services slowdown, and reflation.
Inflation has generally outpaced wage growth, which means employees can afford less, and there’s no evidence wage growth is accelerating. So people can’t afford to stay at home, prompting retirees to seek part-time work as do low-wage workers, none of which signals a healthy job market.
