Will Work For Food

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for lifetime"

An apt quote for a time when people are worried about how to feed their families and wondering where are those promised new industries who will be hiring thousands of people for permanent, full time positions.

The GLITCH is that jobs created under the economic Recovery Act are temporary jobs. Meaning project-related work that will end as soon as the worker is no longer needed.

What does this temporary shuffle of those who obtained short-lived jobs do to the monthly unemployment statistics?  It's obvious that when temporary jobs end, they will file for unemployment compensation again and then be added back as newly unemployed -- sometime down the road.

Is it because those seeking to glorify any small decline in monthly unemployment statistics need something to wave to the public as indisputable proof that hastily conceived deficit spending is the surefire way to end the recession? Shuffling workers to and from unemployment rolls might provide some short-lived tasty sound-bytes to refute those who question shortsighted solutions that add to the public debt - like temporary summer jobs for teenagers. But sleight of hand doesn't stimulate the most critical element needed for economic recovery:  permanent jobs that won't evaporate overnight.

Also...

It is very easy to miss the fact that in FDR's time - unemployment was higher in 1939  than when he took office in 1932.  Something that is rarely, if ever, mentioned in today's discussions about the wisdom of emulating FDR's ideology.  And easier still to not acknowledge that economic recovery was not stimulated because of short-lived New Deal road and bridge projects or special entitlement programs.  WWII came along and fueled a war effort manufacturing boom.

Oh well... let's look at what is happening in one state - thanks to the Recovery Act.  Are people working?  And are new, long lasting jobs being created?

This  2009: October 15 H article from The Providence (RI) Journal- Adding up the stimulus: Thousands of jobs created - offers some interesting, specific numbers that paint a picture of what is happening in just one state.  (Rhode Island was randomly picked, BTW)

PROVIDENCE — The Obama administration reported Thursday that at least 30,383 jobs have been created or saved across the nation as a direct result of the federal stimulus package, offering the first tangible job figures since the $787-billion Recovery Act became law eight months ago.

Rhode Island was the beneficiary of six jobs, according to the federal report.

Also:

“The numbers are incomplete,” Governor Caricieri’s spokeswoman Amy Kempe said of the six jobs reported on the federal site. “We have no control over those contracts.”

Indeed, the Carcieri administration released separate figures Thursday evening showing an additional 1,700 jobs created or saved in Rhode Island as a direct result of the stimulus. While the governor’s office could not immediately answer detailed questions about where job creation occurred, the state data included several hundred part-time summer jobs for youths, according to Kempe.

And:

Rhode Island’s six new positions included two created by contracts worth $3.88 million awarded to the Quonset Development Corporation for road construction and another $3 million to the State of Rhode Island for “river ecosystem restoration” in Wakefield.

The Burrillville Housing Authority created three jobs by spending $142,823 to “replace roadways, sidewalks and curbings.” And another job was spawned by a contract worth $43,905 to the Boston firm, Bargmann Hendrie & Archetype, Inc. “to assist with the administration of a construction contract for re-roofing and masonry repairs at the U.S. courthouse in Providence.”

Yep... 6 new temporary jobs were created by an incredibly expensive Recovery Act in a state where the unemployment rate is at 12.8% and climbing  (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics).

That's 6 jobs within an estimated population of 1,076,189 people -- 73,300 of whom were out of work as of August 2009 (according to The Providence Journal: "R.I. jobless rate inches higher" - Sept 18, 2009)

Hmmm.... 6 new jobs for sure vs. 73,300 people who need jobs.

Doesn't do much to bolster much confidence that things are changing for the unemployed in Rhode Island.

How about the question of how they are feeding themselves right now?

2009: October 4 Headline: "Rhode Island shoppers’ use of food stamps spikes" reports:

The number of Rhode Islanders using the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program [SNAP], formerly the Food Stamp Program, has increased about 24 percent, from 87,285 to 107,891, from June 2008 to June 2009.

That number has been climbing steadily, up to roughly 117,000 persons — a record high in Rhode Island ...

Hmmm... 6 temporary jobs. 12.8% unemployment and rising.  And 117,000 people relying upon the SNAP Program to buy food.

As everyone is asking these days:  What happened to private sector,  long-term job creation aid?

And...what will happen to all these folks when federal funds are eventually cut as they must if the National Deficit is ever to be reduced or the U. S. Budget ever balanced for real?

How will they feed themselves for a lifetime if the taxpayers can't sustain their basic needs?