Americans aren\u2019t looking for part-time, crappy jobs, and they aren\u2019t looking for more free time to paint or read. They want the respect and dignity of a full-time, good job. The problem is, U.S. adults with full-time jobs as a percentage of the U.S. adult population right now is 42% — the lowest monthly average since Gallup started our Payroll to Population (P2P) metric in March of 2011.<\/p>\n
GDP growth continues to fail expectations. Many economists, both left- and right-leaning, predicted U.S. GDP would grow 3% last year. It only grew 1.9%, which was even worse than the 2.8% growth in 2012 — so the pie shrunk. Now we\u2019re seeing predictions of 3% growth this year. Here is the big question: Based on what?<\/p>\n
Seriously, what is driving the upbeat predictions this time? A technology boom we haven\u2019t yet heard about? Automobile exports? Fracking? The return of manufacturing jobs? Millions of \u201cshovel-ready\u201d\u009d government projects?
Reality check: The three most important indicators to watch in gauging whether or not America will ever recover from the 2008 financial crash are: if business births begin to outnumber business deaths again, the steady growth of full-time jobs as a percent of the population (P2P), and significant GDP growth.<\/p>\n
On all three indicators, America is failing this morning.<\/p>\n