One thing that analysts fail to explain is that Americans have begun working multiple jobs since the COVID pandemic that wrecked the global economy. Nonfarm payrolls increased 303,000 in March, but there are millions of Americans holding multiple jobs who can still not keep up with the cost of living even with wages up 4.1% in the past year.
Around 5.3% of the US workforce held more than one job, on the books, in 2019 but that slowed during the pandemic when businesses were unable to open. In September 2022, 4.9% of American workers (7.7 million people) held more than one job (on the books) as the economy began to slowly recover but that trend did not stay in motion due to rampant inflation and the cost of living. By October 2023, 5.2% of the US workforce (8.4 million people) held more than one job.
Women are more likely than men to work multiple jobs. And we wonder why there is a birth rate crisis. Around 6% of US women in the workforce had two or more jobs by October 2023 compared to 4.7% of men.
Now these are simply the figures for those working on the books. The Biden Administration killed the gig economy when Americans relied on it the most by imposing numerous regulations that forced companies to classify contractors as employees. Then we have states carelessly raising the minimum wage, eliminating the number of available jobs, and raising costs for businesses overall.
Only 62.7% of abled Americans are participating in the workforce. This does not include the 7.4+ illegal migrants who cannot obtain working permits but rely on government aid. Then they “revise” the jobs report every month, with January’s overwhelming report of 353,000 new jobs now down by 27,000, and February’s posting shedding 5,000. Then if you read between the lines, the number of part-time workers, who do not have benefits, rose by 691,000 while the number of full-time workers decreased by 6,000. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics admitted that the number of Americans holding multiple jobs increased by 217,000 or 5.2%, but this is drastically understated as many people work under the table or in odd jobs.
The jobs report is by no means an indication of a strong economy.