A job is born: The link between growth and work
Numbers out Friday show 162,000 jobs were created last month, a bit less than expected. And America’s overall unemployment rate fell slightly to 7.4 percent. Earlier this week, we learned the economy is growing at 1.7 percent. To make a real dent in the jobless rate, the GDP needs to expand a lot faster.
“We need to see the economy really grow better than 3 percent, ideally 4 percent, in order for us to see a substantial pickup in hiring,” says Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at The Economic Outlook Group.
With that kind of expansion, he says today’s job creation number could double.
It’s one thing to talk nationwide numbers. But in tiny Springville, N.Y., near Buffalo, we get a peek into the manger as one job is born from economic growth.
Some of that growth is being felt at car dealerships. Several lots in the region bear Carl Emerling’s name. Buyers are back.
“They’re looking to get rid of their older cars because they’re more confident,” Emerling explains. “They’re not afraid of getting laid off next week.”
There’s also growth at Mark’s Country Store.
“Business has been steadily increasing,” says owner Mark Meyer, who had only a moment to talk because the store was full of customers. “Sales have been going up the last couple of years.”
Both businessmen say they’re advertising more. And that is how a new job is born.
“We’re hiring a new staff reporter who will work about 30 hours a week,” says proud parent Lizz Schumer, editor of Springville Journal.
With more ads, her weekly paper needs more stories. Though large and midsized papers are struggling, small regional papers like hers have quietly been doing well recently. Schumer is optimistic that ad revenues will continue to increase. She would like to make that new job full-time and hopefully hire more people in the future.
Multiply the story behind that job by about a quarter million, every month, and we’ll have a real recovery.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
