Press ReleaseJuly 3, 2014
June Jobs: Flatlined GDP and Youth on the Sidelines
(DALLAS, TX) – The chief executives of Job Creators Network today said the US Department of Labor June unemployment report released this morning is yet another tree in a growing forest of trouble for the economy and its future workers. They point instead to the recent poor quarterly gross domestic product report and the persistently high unemployment rate for young workers.
“Gross domestic product has flatlined to just 1.5 percent growth over the last year, and we had negative growth last quarter,” said Las Vegas Sands president Mike Leven, referring to last quarter’s GDP report. “We’ll continue to get anemic job growth reports like today’s if we don’t get that to 4 percent annual growth.”
This morning’s jobs report showed a labor force participation rate stuck under 63 percent for the third month in a row and for the first time in three decades. For two decades prior to 2009 the participation rate measured 66 percent or higher. The current number means 5-6 million able-bodied Americans are not participating in the labor force, yet not being recorded in the official unemployment statistics. (JCN VIDEO: http://informationstation.org/
“We have more than 3.5 million young adults between 20-24 who don’t have a job, don’t attend school and don’t have any degree better than a high school diploma – and astonishingly low literacy rates,” said Leven, who is also a member of Job Creators Networ. “They’re at high risk for a lifetime of poor job prospects and poverty because the ‘new normal’ dictates that fewer Americans are meant to have jobs.”
The Brookings Institute has recently charted the dismal labor market for teens and young adults. The think tank refers to the jobless and low educated young Americans as disconnected youth. JCN CEO’s also point to mandatory minimum wage increases as likely detrimental to youth unemployment, making their job searches even harder in the future.
“High teen and young adult unemployment means we’re building a Generation Left Out,” Leven said. “Our kids are suffering the greatest damage from our flatlined economy.”
Today’s jobs report showed a small drop in the official unemployment rate, to 6.1 percent in June from 6.3 percent in May. Unemployment was 19.3 percent for 18-19 year olds, and 10.5 percent for 20-24 year olds. Factoring in those who have stopped looking for work, the Real Unemployment Rate for June was 12.1 percent.
