Thursday, July 03, 2008

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

A White House conference call today with Edward Lazear, Chairman of The President’s Council of Economic Advisers, reveals that the US is down some 62,000 jobs. On the upside, unemployment remains relatively low at 5.5% and wages are increasing at about 0.3% from month to month.

But what does this really mean, down 62,000 jobs? It reminds me of the Metro advertisement which states that "Millions of Jobs" would be created by fighting global warming. True. But shouldn't we consider the usefulness of these jobs?

I could create seven or eight jobs (if I were able to tax and spend, that is) in my home. I would love to have someone do my dishes, take out the trash, etc. But these jobs are not productive jobs. In fact, America would be worse off if I were capable of taking money from some people to employ others in positions which would otherwise go uncreated. Why? Because those resources are not flowing to their most valuable location. And this is wasteful.

Wealth creation, not job creation, is the goal of an economy.

[Side note: When the moderator stated that Richard Vedder had a question, everyone in my office suddenly became interested. Because, as one of my coworkers put it, "You never know what he might say." I believe Dr. Lawson studied under Vedder at Ohio University.]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I can testify to the fact that you never can tell what Vedder will say.