March Jobs Reports Shows Need For More Work on Economic Justice Issues

April 6, 2015
On the first Friday of every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its monthly report, which details the unemployment rate, the number of jobs that the economy added by month, and other pieces of information about the economy. The reports serve as important measures of the economy’s status. They also affect financial markets and are sometimes used to reflect the current administration’s effectiveness on economic issues. The March 2015 Jobs Report shows some areas of disappointment and room to grow. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that only 126,000 jobs were created, which is under half of the 248,000 jobs that the economic forecasts had predicted and is far fewer than the 295,000 jobs that were reportedly added in February 2015. Job growth especially fell below growth in industries such as mining and logging. The unemployment rate is flat at 5.5% (with 8.6 million people experiencing unemployment), which is 0.5 percentage points higher than it was at the start of the recession in December 2007 and which officially ended 18 months later in June 2009. Despite new numbers of job creation, too many Americans still face unemployment. Even for those workers who have jobs, average hourly earnings are still very low, and not all American workers are anywhere close to making a living wage: in 2013 3.3 million workers earned at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Though hourly wage growth did increase above the predicted 0.2% and grew 0.3%, there is still more to be done to ensure that workers receive a higher wage. Urge your Members of Congress to support upcoming legislation to raise the minimum wage! A strong, growing economy is vital to fighting poverty, combatting economic inequality, and imbuing American society with economic justice. In Deuteronomy we are taught that “if there is a needy person among you…do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman. Rather, you must open your hand and lend him sufficient for whatever he needs” (15:7-8).  The rabbis remind us that “sufficient for whatever he needs” implies we are commanded to maintain him at the level he is at, neither making him rich nor allowing him to fall into poverty. Too many hard-working Americans have not recovered from the recession, for as the report shows, many of them are jobless, underemployed, or underpaid. As our economy continues to struggle to recover, we must work to fulfill these obligations and help our most vulnerable who are struggling in this current economic climate. Check out the RAC’s Economic Justice page to learn more.

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