With Covid infection numbers still raging strong last month, it’s no surprise to see a bad number come from the September jobs report. The wider context, however, speaks to how badly the Biden administration has mishandled the economy and Covid since it saw much rosier numbers in the late Spring. The number was so low, in fact, it was half of what analysts had expected meaning the rate of job growth in September nearly hit a brick wall.
Whatever economic recovery was happening in late 2020 and early 2021 has been crippled by a lack of confidence in Biden’s economy and lack of confidence in Biden’s Covid-19 response:
America’s economic recovery has hit a roadblock: US employers added only 194,000 jobs in September, another troubling sign that Covid is disrupting the economy.
It marked the second-straight month in which the US economy added far fewer jobs than expected. Jobs growth slowed down dramatically in August.
The unemployment rate declined to 4.8% in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday, down from 5.2% in August. Joblessness declined across the board, with the Black unemployment rate falling the most of any group — to 7.9% from 8.8% in August.
This job report caps off months of fear and uncertainty among businesses unable to plan accordingly, even for weeks in advance. Major metropolitan areas like New York City and Los Angeles are now forcing restaurants and other businesses to require proof of vaccination from their customers or deny them service. This move has stifled whatever recovery was happening earlier in the summer and created a situation where businesses aren’t growing, so they have no need to hire.
Another issue is Biden’s Covid vaccine mandates. Lots of larger companies, specifically in healthcare, are now firing workers who refuse to get vaccinated. Taken in small numbers, the vaccine-mandate-related firings, a few hundred employees here and there, add up in the aggregate coupled with the shortage of labor in general.
Analysts on CNBC called the numbers “deflating“:
“This is quite a deflating report,” said Nick Bunker, economic research director at job placement site Indeed. “This year has been one of false dawns for the labor market. Demand for workers is strong and millions of people want to return to work, but employment growth has yet to find its footing.”
In the medium to long term, this could have implications for further government actions when it comes to Covid-19 assistance and aid resulting from continued economic stagnation:
Federal Reserve officials are watching the jobs numbers closely. The central bank recently has indicated it’s ready to start pulling back on some of the extraordinary help it has provided during the pandemic crisis, primarily because inflation has met and exceeded the Fed’s 2% goal.
However, officials have said they see the jobs market still well short of full employment, a prerequisite for interest rate hikes. Market pricing currently indicates the first rate increase likely will come in November 2022.
The September numbers indicate a slow crawl toward any kind of economy witnessed before Coronavirus was let loose on the world courtesy of China.
Government mismanagement of the recovery under President Biden is dampening efforts by states and businesses to try and build back to some form of normalcy. Based on these numbers, however, the country will have to keep waiting.
