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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell today: "There is effectively zero net job creation in the private sector." (Original Post) LetMyPeopleVote Yesterday OP
We know Powell has a strong track record with the truth bucolic_frolic Yesterday #1
Oh oh... Spazito Yesterday #2
Wow. That WOULD seem to be somewhat at variance .... - - - - - - - - -(nt)- stopdiggin Yesterday #3
There are VERY few real jobs out there. Lots of AI bs skimming info, but few real jobs. SheltieLover Yesterday #4
So much "winning"... AZ8theist Yesterday #5
Video address republianmushroom Yesterday #6
And if congress caves on the stable genius' 2 trillion dollar demand and cuts all those federal programs, MLWR Yesterday #7
". . . zero NET job growth . . . " AverageOldGuy Yesterday #8
Well lonely bird Yesterday #9
Golly Gee blue-wave Yesterday #10
I don't think this is getting 1/50th the coverage it deserves Johnny2X2X Yesterday #11
Private sector job creation was 52,500 jobs/month over last 6 months. Powell said in the clip that after adjusting progree Yesterday #12
MS NOW-The April jobs report looks good -- but there's rot underneath LetMyPeopleVote 3 hrs ago #13

bucolic_frolic

(55,218 posts)
1. We know Powell has a strong track record with the truth
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 11:50 AM
Yesterday

Is somebody telling us a fib in the White House?

SheltieLover

(80,649 posts)
4. There are VERY few real jobs out there. Lots of AI bs skimming info, but few real jobs.
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 12:01 PM
Yesterday

I know people with degrees in IT & other disciplines, several with years of experience & solid references hoping & praying to get a Walmart or Amazon warehouse job.



MLWR

(1,029 posts)
7. And if congress caves on the stable genius' 2 trillion dollar demand and cuts all those federal programs,
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 01:01 PM
Yesterday

it will get much, much worse.

AverageOldGuy

(3,886 posts)
8. ". . . zero NET job growth . . . "
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 01:04 PM
Yesterday

I think he means when we total up the last ??? months the negatives and positive add up to zero.

It’s all Biden’s fault. And Obama. And Harris. And FDR.

And Hillary’s emails.

lonely bird

(2,949 posts)
9. Well
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 01:09 PM
Yesterday

The purpose of the private sector is not to employee people.

If a company’s management/owners decide that the number of labor cost units to most effectively and efficiently produce profit-holding revenue is “X” they well employ “X” minus some constant. They will then bleat “work smarter, not harder”.

Johnny2X2X

(24,224 posts)
11. I don't think this is getting 1/50th the coverage it deserves
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 01:54 PM
Yesterday

The last year has been an absolute disaster for jobs and the middle class will be paying the price for years. Trump completely destroyed the greatest jobs economy in history that Biden created.

This is a catastrophe and it’s just starting. It’s going to decimate the working class.

progree

(13,001 posts)
12. Private sector job creation was 52,500 jobs/month over last 6 months. Powell said in the clip that after adjusting
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 01:57 PM
Yesterday

for what the (Federal Reserve) staff thinks is "overstatement due to overcounting", there is effectively zero job creation in the private sector.

# Nonfarm PRIVATE Employment (Establishment Survey, https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000001?output_view=net_1mth
Monthly changes IN THOUSANDS
2024 126 135 143 63 45 78 -8 -27 142 -4 116 212 < --PRIVATE
2025 -76 40 67 99 20 -45 65 -20 68 13 72 -7 < --PRIVATE
2026 180 -129 186 < --PRIVATE

Last 3 months: 237k = 79k/month, Last 6 months: 315k = 52.5k/month

Back in December, he said the staff thinks the BLS is overestimating job growth by about 60,000 per month
https://www.federalreserve.gov/mediacenter/files/FOMCpresconf20251210.pdf
(search for the word "distorted" where that part begins)

Anyway, so if you subtract 60k from 52.5k, you get essentially zero (actually a bit negative)

Just to be clear, he did not say or indicate that they are "cooking the books" but rather the numbers may be "distorted by very technical factors". And he did mention the big downward revision announced in September as evidence of the job numbers being overestimated.

Various articles I've seen is the one big problem as far as growth estimates too high is the birth-death model used to estimate the amount of net job creation amongst new businesses not covered by the survey.

LetMyPeopleVote

(180,045 posts)
13. MS NOW-The April jobs report looks good -- but there's rot underneath
Sun Apr 5, 2026, 02:50 PM
3 hrs ago

On the whole, the job market is all but frozen, with little in the way of hiring or turnover. And for recent college graduates, it’s even worse.

The April jobs report looks good — but there’s rot underneath.

On the whole, the job market is all but frozen, with little in the way of hiring or turnover. And for recent college graduates, it’s even worse.

www.ms.now/opinion/jobs...

TheBlackPage (Woke, DEI forever against fascism) (@theblackpage.bsky.social) 2026-04-03T17:16:38.915Z

https://www.ms.now/opinion/jobs-report-reaction

Yes, the April jobs report released Friday showed that the U.S. added 178,000 jobs last month, well above expectations. But over the last six months, job growth has averaged just 89,000 per month – weak sauce by any measure. As usual during Trump 2.0, the health care industry led the way with 76,000 jobs added (thanks in part to the resolution of a strike at Kaiser Permanente). Other industries lagged: while manufacturing employment grew 12,000, there are still 82,000 fewer such jobs than when Trump returned to the White House, And a large part of the reason the overall unemployment rate fell to 4.3% is because 400,000 people exited the workforce entirely.
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Overall, the job market is all but frozen, with little in the way of hiring or turnover. And for recent college graduates, it’s even worse, which might help explain Trump’s faltering support among this cohort. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, more than 40 percent of college graduates between the ages of 22 and 27 hold jobs that typically don’t require a college degree. That high a share is usually seen only during economic downturns and their immediate aftermath, and is comparable to rates seen in the aftermath of the Great Recession.....

Economists are increasingly predicting stagflation – a period of low growth and high inflation – for the U.S. No surprise, consumer sentiment is all but in the toilet, with the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey at near-record lows and huge numbers of Americans say they believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.....

At the same time, the extreme corruption of the Trump administration is also giving companies a license to raise prices and otherwise treat their customers like chumps without a choice. The gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has left Americans with nowhere to turn when a credit card issuer or bank does them wrong. The de facto refusal to enforce antitrust statutes will almost certainly raise costs for Americans as well.

As I’ve pointed out before, Trump’s economy in many ways resembles to a multi-level marketing scheme. The only people making out here are the wealthiest of the wealthy, who are benefitting from tax cuts, while Trump performs his lifelong serial con bait and switch on the rest of us. This month’s job numbers are almost certainly offering more of the same – they look good on first glance, but dig beneath the surface, and the rot quickly becomes apparent.
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