Shocking News: The
Economy Is Producing Good Jobs
Christian Science Monitor reveals what
most economists have known for years.
By Noel Sheppard
Free Market Project
Apr. 17, 2006
   Â
For years, the media have been telling Americans the economy, though
growing, is not producing good jobs. From Lou Dobbs’ continuous rant
at CNN about “The War on the Middle Class” to the Washington Post’s
E. J. Dionne claiming in a February 21 op-ed that “The decline of
manufacturing employment means the economy is producing fewer
well-paying jobs,” the media mantra has been that wage gains during
this recovery have been very disappointing.
    “Now Democrats have argued, though, that under the Bush
administration, Americans have seen wages remain flat, also high
health care costs and high heating oil and gas prices,” CNN’s Elaine Quijano reiterated on an April 15 “CNN Live” report.
    After a longtime “Chicken Little” media view of the
labor markets, The Christian Science Monitor finally broke from the
pack in an April 11
article by Mark Trumbull
stating the “Newest job numbers show that businesses are expanding
opportunities in high-wage fields.”
    Just two days earlier, however, The New York Times
asserted that “New technology and low-cost labor in places like China and
India have put downward pressure on the wages and benefits of the
average American worker.”
    Who’s right? Well, the Monitor used some
highly-regarded economists to support its assertions: “‘We’re
creating lots of all kinds of jobs, across many industries,
occupations, and pay scales,’ says Mark Zandi, chief economist at
Moody’s Economy.com.”
    The Monitor even found a liberal economist – one whose
views the past several years have normally been quite pessimistic
when he’s been quoted by mainstream media representatives – to offer
support for its positive assertions about current labor conditions.
“‘As this recovery gets under way, professional services have begun
adding jobs fairly broadly,’ says Jared Bernstein, an economist at
the liberal Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in Washington.”
    The Monitor referenced EPI’s own indicator that “tracks
the weighting of higher- versus lower-paying jobs that are being
added to the economy.” How has this indicator been doing recently?
“In the past year, however, it has turned positive, meaning that the
new jobs in the economy are the kind that tend to pull average wages
up, not down.”
    The Monitor also gave some real examples of high-paying
jobs in the help-wanted category across the country:
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“In St. Louis, AFB International is enlisting both
technicians, paid $30,000 to $40,000, and PhD scientists,
offered $80,000 to $100,000, in its quest for the perfect pet
food.
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“In Delaware, Honeywell plans to hire people at $40,000 to
$100,000 to work in a data-storage center.
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“In southern California, some of the latest openings involve
working on the railroad, for $35,000 to $70,000 a year. Union
Pacific plans to add 2,000 employees altogether.”
    Certainly, this is all great news. Yet, you wouldn’t
get the same feeling about the current economic condition if you had
watched the March 18 installment of CNN’s “In the Money” when host
Jack Cafferty, in his traditionally gloomy mood, proclaimed, “A lot
of the good paying jobs have been outsourced and sent overseas.”
    But the Monitor’s report was far less gloomy:
“Management and professional occupations are employing 1.2 million
more people this month than a year ago – or about 1 in 3 new jobs in
America. This is the highest-paying of five broad categories tracked
by the Labor Department. Not all of them are CEOs or engineers, but
the median paycheck for full-time workers in this category is $937 a
week, far above the US median of $651.”
    The Monitor also used data directly from recent Bureau
of Labor Statistics reports to counter media claims regarding
manufacturing: “Even the manufacturing sector, which has long
offered blue-collar workers a measure of middle-class prosperity,
appears to be stabilizing after a period of heavy job losses.
Despite downsizing in the automotive industry, 175,000 more people
are employed in production occupations today than a year ago.”
    That’s not the news most media outlets have been
reporting – the Free Market Project has followed the media’s
insistence
that Detroit’s decline bodes ill for the country.
    Contrary to media pessimism on the issue, The Monitor
quoted one final economist with an extremely optimistic perspective:
“‘I would expect wages and compensation to increase faster,’ says
Rea Hederman of the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington.”
    Certainly, this is welcome news to American workers …
that is, if more journalists follow the Monitor’s lead and actually
report it.
Noel Sheppard is an economist, business owner, and contributing
writer to the Free Market Project. He is also contributing editor
for the Media Research Center’s
NewsBusters.org. Noel welcomes feedback at
[email protected].
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