There was a little mentioned tangent to last Friday's
very disappointing NFP print of +115,000 (driven by a surge in temp jobs
offsetting a collapse in full time positions): as David Rosenberg notes, the
jobs number was about half of another far more important number - that
of Americans applying for disability , which in April was +225,000. He continues: "this is
the new stealth stimulus program - so far in 2011, nearly one million Americans
have applied for disability and year-to-date, 333k have actually enrolled
(covering 539k family members).
In total, more than five million people have been
added to disability coverage since President Obama took over three years ago."
The punchline will make all those who adore (insolvent) welfare states shake
with giddy delight: " So look - either safety standards at work have eroded
dramatically or the "99%" have found a creative way to milk the system and turn the economy
into a quasi welfare state ".... Yup.
What he said. Because remember: the BLS assumes that any amount up to the total 53
million people, is not in the labor force as they have other "welfare" based forms of government
handouts and see no need at all to look for a job. Is there any wonder why US
unemployment is realistically 20% if not much higher? As for the other chart,
food stamps, we know that story all too well.