by Alfredo Ortiz
Friday’s jobs report reveals accelerating weakness in the American economy. Only 142,000 jobs were created last month, below expectations. Half of new positions were created in the unproductive government or quasi-government healthcare and social services sectors.
A record 8.2 million Americans have second jobs. So far this year, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by one million.
Prior months’ job creation was significantly revised down — again. Including these revisions, the average number of jobs created over the last three months is only 116,000 — a paltry figure.
This weak job creation comes on the heels of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ downward revision of 818,000 jobs last year. Eliminating these phantom jobs confirms what JCN and those on Main Street have long said: the labor market is far weaker than topline numbers suggest.
It turns out ordinary Americans’ perception of the poor economy wasn’t wrong, as liberal commentators kept hectoring. To paraphrase William F. Buckley Jr., I’d rather take the pulse of the economy from the 40 people I encounter on the street than the Beltway elite.
This weakening economy is due to nearly four years of bad government policies by the Biden-Harris administration, including historic inflation, overregulation and anti-energy rules. High interest rates have made access to credit small businesses need expensive and unattainable.
Consumers are tapped out. Credit card debt is at an all-time high, and the savings rate is at an all-time low. Families have faced approximately $28,000 in additional costs under this administration.
Small businesses are having difficulty staying afloat in this environment. According to Job Creators Network’s national SBIQ poll of small businesses, two-thirds say current economic conditions could force them to close.
Exhibit A is Subway, which is 100% franchise-owned, meaning every Subway is a small business. It recently had to call an emergency franchisee meeting over plummeting sales and profits.
The underlying reason: A sandwich shop just isn’t economical in the Biden-Harris economy. Inflation, high-energy costs and regulations have significantly pushed up Subway’s main input costs — meat, cheese, vegetables, electricity and labor.
Subway operates on notoriously low profit margins and has no other choice but to pass these costs on to its customers in the form of higher sub prices. But there’s only so much ordinary Americans are willing to pay for a Turkey sandwich. Customers have decided at these prices they’ll just make their sandwiches at home.
Subway has tried promotions to compensate for this falling revenue, but these have eliminated profits. They are in a lose-lose situation. Their business model no longer works in America’s anti-small business environment.
For every Subway, countless small businesses that never make the news shut their doors because they can’t compete in this economy. U.S. retailers have closed more than 3,000 locations in 2024, according to CBS News.
Harris’ anti-small business policies would break the cracking labor market and American economy.
She wants to repeal the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which small businesses have relied on as a lifeline in these difficult times. She also plans the largest tax hike in American history, freezing investment and economic growth. And she wants to expand Biden’s labor and environmental regulations, including implementing a joint-employment rule that would destroy the franchise system.
The only way to reverse American labor market and economic decline is by electing pro-growth conservatives on Election Day who will undo the damage of the Biden-Harris administration and usher in a Main Street resurgence. There’s still time to save the affordable lunch.
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Alfredo Ortiz is CEO of Job Creators Network, author of “The Real Race Revolutionaries,” and co-host of the Main Street Matters podcast.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Kamala Harris” by Kamala Harris.
