Bureau Of Labor Statistics Supplemental May Report: Unskilled Workers Hammered

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its May unemployment report. Even though unemployment rose slightly to 7.6 percent, the official job creation statistics were mildly better than in recent months. In May, the economy added about 175,000 jobs. When economist Edwin S. Rubenstein studied the data more closely, however, he found that the American-born participation is the labor force is smaller this May than it was a year ago.

Going back to 2009, when President Obama took office, Rubenstein’s found that foreign-born employment increased by 1.65 million workers or 7.6 percent while during the same period native-born employment rose only by 26,000 or 0.02 percent.

Separately, the Center for Immigration Studies’ Director of Research Steven A. Camarota said that the first quarter 2013 employment picture for less-skilled Americans is “bleak.” U-3 unemployment for citizens without a high-school diploma is 18.1 percent; the U-6 rate is 29.8. For those with a high school education but no further schooling, the U-3 and U-6 rates are 10.3 and 18.4 percent.

For those lucky few who have landed a job in the last three years, the news isn’t necessarily good. While the White House may be touting a sustained economic recovery, U.S. workers have taken the biggest hit in their hourly wages since the Bureau of Labor statistics began charting that information in 1947.

According to the BLS, the average hourly wages of workers in the economy’s non-farm sectors dropped 3.8 percent in first quarter, 2013, from the last quarter, 2012.  Compared to last year, hourly wages have increased just 2 percent, the agency reported. And despite administration happy talk about so-called U.S. manufacturing renaissance, hourly wages for that sector dropped 6.9 percent in the first quarter.

The hourly wage figures were issued as part of a separate report from the one featured in headlines that showed private employers added 175,000 jobs in May. [Hourly Wages Post Record Fall, by Brady Yaunch, Business News Network, June 5, 2013]

Mark Zandi, Moody Analytics’ chief economist said:

"The number [job total] was weak. The ADP National Employment report is suggesting instead of job growth stepping up, it's actually stepping down as we move into the summer months. It's not like we're falling off a cliff, it just feels like we're throttling back a little bit."

Despite overwhelming evidence that the last thing the U.S. economy needs is more workers, on Tuesday the Senate will vote on whether to allow S.744 to advance to the floor for full debate. Among its multiple flaws. S. 744 would grant legal work authorization to 11 million aliens living in the U.S., would double to 1.6 million the annual flow of guest workers by expanding existing visa categories like the H-1B and added new ones like the “W” and “V.”  [W-Visa Would Allow Lower Skilled Foreigners to Legally Work in U.S., by Cassie Chew, PBS News Hour, April 23, 2013]

The only conclusion Americans, especially unemployed Americans, can make is that the Senate hasn’t read the bill. If its members had, then the Tuesday vote would not garner the necessary 60 to continue.

Help convince the Senate to not allow the bill to reach the follow. Go the CAPS Legislative Alert page to FAX your Senatorsyour strong objections to S.744.