Is This Unbelievable Spin from The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page?

[Composed Thinker]

Is this unbelievable spin?

A Jobless Recovery?

By ALLAN H. MELTZER

Has Alan Greenspan misread the employment data? So it seems. At their meeting last week, Mr. Greenspan and his Federal Reserve colleagues referred to the "weakening" labor market. It isn't so. And it is not just the Federal Reserve that repeats this mistake. Most professional articulators deplored the loss of jobs and the weaker labor market after the last employment report appeared a few weeks ago.

Don't believe these reports or the recently announced 6.8% productivity growth rate. And don't believe the widely reported loss of millions of manufacturing jobs since the Bush administration took office. All these alleged facts are either wrong or greatly exaggerated, based on the same faulty source.

* * *
Employment growth is not robust, and some manufacturing firms are under great pressure. But overall employment growth is positive. I smile in disbelief and scratch my head, and I hope you scratch yours, when frequent announcements tell us that a company reduced its work force by 1,000 or 3,000 employees or perhaps one-third of its workforce. How could a private profit-seeking firm continue to survive through the recent hard times with so many redundant employees?

The answer is: It couldn't and it didn't really happen. What many companies have done is outsource some services previously performed in house. For example, cafeterias become independent enterprises. Often the same people report to work at the same places, but they now work for a different employer, perhaps a start-up. They may receive fewer benefits and perhaps lower wages. The company is able to reduce costs without reducing services. It now has fewer employees and the same output of manufactured goods, so it reports that labor productivity -- output per person employed -- has increased, in some cases dramatically. The official statistics record the change.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106453705442294900,00.html?mod=opinion%255Fmain%255Fcommentaries

[ixion]

1. Employment growth is robust?

Boy, this guy spends no time at all on the job boards. Let me give an example. Three years ago, there were over 100 jobs in S. Florida up for grabs at Monster.com. As of yesterday, there was 10.

How, exactly, is this robust growth?

[patdem]

2. Well these outsourced people are collecting unemployment???

they need to be hunted down like the animals they are a put in prison and the key just thrown away...away I tell you...

To this us red blooded amerikans have been lied to like this...must be that libural press they all talk about...disgusting...I tell you...tomorrow I am going to one of those oursouce places and getting a job...a job I tell you....:grr:

PS..I aint paying the WSJ to read pape like that...so I only read your snippit.

[Composed Thinker]

6. It's probably the best source for financial news

You can read much of the opinion stuff on the Web for free at opinionjournal.com. I did pay for a subscription for its news, which also gives me access to Barrons.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

3. Well I dont' give a shit 'cuz they're only spinning to subscribers

And anything from the POS rag that considers the likes of professional GOP Reagan/Bush cabal butt kisser Dorothy Rabinowitz as legitimate editorialists is not of much to me.

[meegbear]

4. That makes sense ...

Kinda like if I don't pay any of my bills, then I have more personal income.

[pw]

5. WSJ Editorial page has always lived on another planet

It's obvious in this case, for example, that you would suddenly have a new firm with a bunch of workers producing products and services (namely breakfast, lunch or dinner) whose productivity would also have to be counted into the national numbers.

The only way to increase _their_ measured productivity is, as the WSJ implicitly notes, to pay them lower wages and give them fewer benefits. Do enough of that, and productivity per dollar spent on employees goes up, yes it does.

(Further evidence that the WSJ editors are on Mars is that productivity is going up radpidly in the service sector, where these kinds of accounting games don't even get to first base.)

[hadrons]

8. WSJ Editorial page is considered an embarrassment by ....

most of the WSJ writers in the other departments

As far as this numbnut,Allan H. Meltzer, is concerned:

134,000 Lost Jobs in August 'Mass Layoffs'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2082-2003Sep25?language=printer

More U.S. workers lost their jobs in large layoffs in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday, another sign that employers are continuing to trim payrolls even as the economy strengthens.

The BLS tracks what it calls "mass layoffs," or firings of more than 50 workers in a single month by a single employer, by compiling reports on initial claims for unemployment benefits filed with state agencies. The numbers include temporary and permanent firings.

About 134,000 workers lost their jobs in 1,258 mass layoffs nationwide last month, up from the 128,103 employees who were fired in 1,248 such actions in August 2002, the BLS said.

The mass-layoff report is a snapshot of monthly employment changes across the country. Manufacturing took the hardest hit of any sector in August, accounting for nearly a third of all mass layoffs and more than a third of the number of workers who lost jobs, the report said. Job losses also were reported in transportation equipment, textile mills, machinery and food manufacturing.

California, New York, Illinois, North Carolina and Texas had the most mass layoffs, the report said.

.....

Levi closing North American plants

September 26, 2003

SAN FRANCISCO, - Struggling blue jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. said Thursday it would close its remaining North American plants, leaving nearly 2,000 employees out of work and completing its long exit from the U.S. manufacturing business.

The job cuts and plant closures are part of the latest restructuring at the 150-year-old company, which has fallen on hard times as both cheaper discount brands and pricey designer labels have cut deeply into its market.

Earlier this month, Levi Straus, said it would cut 650 jobs and seek waivers from its lenders, while it sought new financing and tried to better compete with lower-price apparel makers.

The company, like many apparel companies, has found it much cheaper to send its production overseas. After it closes its remaining North American plants - in San Antonio, Texas; Edmonton, Alberta; and Stoney Creek, Ontario - it will out-source manufacturing to plants all around the world, many concentrated in Latin America.
(snip/...)

http://www.dailyherald.com/business/business_story.asp?intid=3789066

.....

Layoff Announcement More Bad News for Indiana Economy (Franklin, IN)

Breaking from WISHTV.COM

"Wednesday's layoff announcement at the ArvinMeritor plant in Franklin will aggravate Indiana's loss of manufacturing jobs.

The Michigan-based auto parts maker said Wednesday it is closing the Franklin plant over the next year and laying off more than 850 workers. Indiana has lost 106,000 manufacturing jobs since the state's manufacturing employment peaked in February 2000, according to the US Bureau of Labor statistics."

(snip)

"In a WISHTV.COM epoll Wednesday, 33 percent of those surveyed said they believe Indiana's economy will get better. Forty-eight percent said they thought it would get worse, and 12 percent expect it to stay the same."

.....

I guess we've been misreading the threads from the past 24 hours

[kodi]

13. pravda for the ruling class

.

[Kat45]

7. To their example, I'd say: and how does this help employment?

The workers that have these kinds of jobs are making much less money for the same work, AND have no health insurance, and probably no other benefits either. So they can't support themselves and their families and can't afford health care. And the WSJ is giving that an example of something good??? I guess the folks at the Journal never had to work for a living.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. These economists should be called upon to support

their columns. And if it is found that they are more political than economist, they should be ousted for prevading an environment of fraud.

[sangh0]

10. The blatant lie about productivity EXPOSED

labor productivity -- output per person employed

Productivity is $$spent per unit of output, not #people per unit of output

[Jacobin]

11. Guess they haven't heard the number release 20 minutes ago

HUGE INCREASE in unemployment for August.

[PATRICK]

12. cheap labor conservatives

it is a spin but a revealing one that the workers are forced to fewer benefits and lower wages. That is GOOD NEWS for the business types. I guess the workers should admire them and be grateful they have a job through these "hard times". And when they want their wages, health care and unions back I am sure the cheap labor conservatives will smile, give it back and let us all share in the "good times".

At least that used to be the myth of the concerned paternalist employer who nurtured his employees through "hard times". Somehow that is missing here. Maybe I didn''t read the whole article.