About this episode
* Yesterday we got the first jobs report of the year and the way Wall Street and the media seem to be spinning it: * "It was a good report!" * It was good news because the headline number beat expectations: * We created 227,000 jobs in January vs the 175,000 that had been expected * Of course it was an improvement on the 157,000 jobs which was a disappointing report in December * But once again, if you look beneath the headline number, you'll find that there are a lot more problems to this report than the media is reporting * First of all, as always, the lion's share of these jobs are lower-paying service sector jobs * They're in retail trade, leisure and hospitality * So we're not creating the types of jobs that will Make America Great Again * In fact, if you look at the higher paying jobs - manufacturing, mining logging * These jobs are barely adding workers, if not losing workers * But the bigger story here has to do with what's happening to labor force participation, wages and unemployment * The official U3 Unemployment rate went up from 4.7% to 4.8% * The more revealing U6 number, which I think paints a more accurate picture of the true state of the labor market * That went up from 9.2% to 9.4% * Even Donald Trump, when he was campaigning, said that that number was far more accurate than Obama's official numbers * Why did the unemployment rate go up so much, considering that we had 227,00 jobs created? * The reason was that we had over 700,000 workers re-enter the labor force * This goes against the trend that has dominated the entirety of the Obama administration * Where we saw a mass exodus of workers leaving the labor force * In fact, the labor force participation rate went up in January from 62.7% to 62.9% * First of all, why did so many Americans decide to re-enter the labor force in January? * Maybe there are 2 possible explanations and maybe they're both accurate: * One might have to do with all the optimism surrounding the Donald Trump Presidency * Remember, Donald Trump campaigned that he was going to be the greatest jobs President * And it's possible that a lot of people believe that this is going to happen * So they are re-entering the labor force to land one of these great jobs that President Trump will be delivering * You have to enter the labor force in order to apply for one of these jobs * Another reason is that the people who have been "sitting out" of labor force participation * Maybe circumstances are finally catching up with them, maybe they're running out of money * Maybe the cost of living has risen to the point that they have to, by necessity, find a job Our Sponsors: * Check out FRE and use my code LISTEN20 for a great deal: https://frepouch.com * Check out Infinite Epigenetics: https://infiniteepigenetics.com/GOLD * Check out Justin Wine and use my code SCHIFF20 for a great deal: https://www.justinwine.com Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy