Sony Closing Last TV Manufacturing Plant In U.S.

From NETWORKWORLD: “Sony has named its Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, plant as the second factory of a planned 5 or 6 that will be shut down as part of a global restructuring. The factory is Sony's last remaining TV manufacturing facility in the U.S. and the closure will see 560 people lose their jobs.”

The plant which manufactures 46” and 52” LCD TVs will stop production in February and the facility will be completely shuttered in March 2010 when Sony also closes their east-cost logistics operations. Sony will now manufacture these TVs in Baja, Mexico.

Westmoreland County web site post this in October: “The park, located in East Huntingdon and Hempfield Townships, further bolsters Westmoreland County’s major employment zone surrounding the Sony Technology Center.”

Here is an interesting comment on MSN QnA Beta by toadhead: “There are no TV currently manufactured in the USA."

"The last one I new of were Phillips not a US company but they had a manufacturing plant in Missouri . As I understand it Wal-Mart said they would not sell there equipment, essentially unless they moved manufacturing to China so they would be cheaper and contain more lead, so they did. That was a few years ago all the other manufactures of TV have also moved over seas.”

Democrats Preserve American Jobs With “President Obama’s” Coin

In keeping with their convention pledge to protect, promote and grow American jobs, the Democrats have contracted with Windsor, Elizabeth & Windsor, an UK company, to produce 300 limited edition commemorative silver coins for the Democratic Party to hand out to key members of the campaign to elect Obama.

By utilizing an English company to hand-craft these commemoratives, the Democrats are saving Americans the arduous task of producing these high quality keep-sakes. Since the average contribution to the Obama campaign is approximately $65, 2,300 hard working Americans have contributed to the Obama Campaign so that our Democratic Congressmen, Governors and party Dignitaries can have these valuable collectibles and admire there English craftsmanship.

After our Democratic Leadership has received these commemoratives, WEW plans to give the average American the opportunity to purchase the “Obama – The President” Commemoratives. These coins should gain considerably in value since this is the first time a Presidential Commemorative has been produced prior to the election.

This also gives the Republicans an opportunity to save the economy millions of barrels of oil by not having to drive to the polls to vote.


The picture of the commemorative being produced is from the Birmingham Post.net.

Dell Computer: Déjà vu 8,800 Last Year, 8,800 This Year

Last year I wrote an article: Dell Computers; Layoffs, Issues And More Layoffs. At that time I had no idea that I would be writing practically the same article this year. But Dell is like their service, consistently bad.

Dell has never given out straight forward information about their plans for staff reductions but rather they throw out a target number for the national business media and the small local layoffs get reported on in the smaller news markets around the country. The most accurate information has come from a NETWORKWORLD article by Dan Nystedt and reports that Dell has already completed 3,200 layoffs with another 5,200 happening soon.

Even though desktop computer sales improved by 10% last year, they will be closing their desk top facility in Austin, Texas and many that aren’t losing their jobs will be forced to take unpaid time off.

For more than a year Dell has been going through an audit that they claim was caused by certain departments fudging their numbers. As a result they will restate their earnings reports from 2002 through 2006 by a mere $150 million. That's a lot of fudge.

Dell is also being sued on two fronts, first for not performing on their extended warranties sold directly to customers and second for falsely advertising the terms being offered by their company owned financial arm. It has been reported that Dell’s financing division is now up for sale.

Dell, IBM, Intel, Cisco, HP and Microsoft have all gazed into the crystal ball and have seen their future in Asia and India. Doing business in the U.S. has just become too tenuous.

Who Says Inflation Is Under Control

Consumer late payments at 16 year high. Could higher prices at the grocery check-out and at the fuel pump be putting the squeeze on our wallets?

Unemployment claims at there highest level in two years.

ATA Airlines shuts down stranding thousands and laying off 2,000. The cost of fuel was listed as one of the primary causes. Last week Aloha Airlines also shut-down operations.

Corn sets new record price of $6 per bushel. At least our all-knowing government officials tell us that inflation is under control.

Gasoline at new national record. Even with oil backing off there peaks, the cost of refined gasoline is starting its summer rise. Every spring refiners increase their crack spread (the mark-up on gasoline) to reflect the increase in demand. This process has just started.

Motorola disconnecting 2,600 more. Last year they had lay offs of 3,500 in January and 4,000 in May. During a cutting stretch in 2000 and 2001 their payroll shrank by more than 47,000 jobs.

Google planning to cut 25% in the Double-Click work force, in the U.S. that is.

Dell needs to find $3 billion more in cuts than the 8,800 they announced last year. From my article last July.

Merrill Lynch to lay off 4,000 to 7,000.

Schering-Plough will be cutting $1.5 billion a year in expenses, no estimate on how many jobs will be lost. Schering-Plough shares are down about 50 percent this year so heads have to roll.

Are you ready to pay for the poor Home Builders losses? Time to E-mail your congressmen.

NASA estimates as many as 7,300 will loose their jobs as the shuttle program ends in the next 2 ½ years.

La-Z-Boy is shipping jobs to Mexico, all of their cut and sew divisions will be relocated with no lay off estimates given.

Hamiliton Sundstrand will be completing its move to Singapore by lying off the last 65.

United Way officials in Dayton said record numbers of families are seeking emergency food assistance because of lay offs caused by the strike at Detroit-based American Axle & Manufacturing. My article: American Axle Moving More Jobs Out Of The U.S.

CBS Moves Ahead With Layoffs in News

1,500 Possible Layoffs at Freightliner Cleveland Plant. My previous article: Freightliner The Long Haul From North Carolina To Mexico

From the CoStar web site that monitors the Fed’s watch list:

The Federal Reserve Banks moved up the planned closing of several of its check processing facilities, most of the cuts will come from permanent result work reductions.

Newsweek announced that 111 staffers on its news and business sides in New York City accepted a buyout last week.

Chromcraft Revington Inc. is progressively shifting manufacturing of products from its Delphi, IN, plant at 1100 N. Washington St. to suppliers primarily in Asia. Manufacturing activities at the Delphi facility will conclude on May 30. The reduction in force is expected to impact approximately 150 Associates at the Delphi location. Within the past 18 months, the company has closed and sold its plants in Sumter, SC, and Warrenton, NC, as well as its warehouse and distribution center in Knoxville, TN. The company also relocated its upholstery operations into its existing facilities in Lincolnton, NC, and sold its upholstery plant.

EMI Christian Music Group confirms layoffs of between 1,500 to 2,000 staffers by this June.

Long-expected layoffs begin at W.Va. steel mill, from a peak of 13,000 to 1,000 after these latest cuts. Steel mills have been devastated throughout the northeast by Asian steel and like most of the problems facing America; all the politicians do is use this issue as political fodder.

Earlier this week, Wheeling-Pitt's parent, Esmark Inc., announced it would shut down a mill in Allenport, Pa., and idle parts of the operation in Martins Ferry, Ohio. Those cuts could cost as many as 360 jobs.

Analysts see 200,000 banking industry layoffs in the next 18 months.

Whirlpool, a great old Mexican brand. 350 Cleveland jobs go to Mexico. Behr Climate Systems plans layoffs, plant closure. From the Germany based Behr Groups web site: “Today we are active in all major markets in Asia and take advantage of the opportunities they offer.”

JCPenney’s American Living The Ultimate American Sham

JCPenny is flooding the airwaves and other marketing medium with their new line called “AmericanLiving”. The new brand is being manufactured by Polo Ralph Lauren Corp and will be Penny’s feature line for all clothing groups; men’s, woman’s, kid’s, young adult’s and home furnishings. The brand will carry a 15% higher price point than their other lines.

The label itself shows incredible contempt for the American worker by having the bald eagle toting an American Flag then proudly claiming “US Quality Brand”. JCPenny has even used this emblem on the front of shirts, sweaters and even on shoes. In doing so they are exploiting the nationalistic pride we have in America to sell foreign made products. If they would have used American manufacturers I would whole heartedly support the line.

We visited a JCPenny’s store yesterday and when checking the lables we found the following: “Made in Jordan”, “Made in China”, “Made in Vietnam”, “Made in Taiwan”, “Made in Philippines”, “Made in Honduras”, “Made in Macau”.

The closest we get to the US was “Made in Northern Mariana Islands (US)”

View their commercials. DO NOT BUY From JCPenny and be sure to tell them that you will boycott their stores until they start selling American Pride by selling American products.

LSI - More “Partnering” Lay Offs Coming To Kansas City?

In the last line of the last paragraph in a Matt Andrejczak article on Marketwatch:

”LSI also will transition similar functions at facilities in Singapore and Wichita, Kansas, to current manufacturing partners.”

As written in LSI Leveraging Worldwide Contract Manufacturing Ecosystem = U.S. Layoffs, the company has no intention of retaining any of their American facilities other than the required sales staff. When the following honors were awarded to the LSI facility in Wichita, in 2003, they had total employment of 600. I have not been able to obtain current staffing levels.

Four years ago this facility was honored by the Kansas Society of Professional Engineers and Governor Sebelius:

Largest high tech employer in Kansas receives accolade for contributions to state economy and engineering ingenuity

SunTrust – Could Offshoring Be Part Of Their “Organizational Design Component”

Today SunTrust Banks Inc. put a Press Release out that stated 2,400 back office and managerial positions will disappear in the near future. Could this just be a required step preceding the implementation of contracting for offshore services. SunTrust is reported as the 7th largest bank in the U.S. and all of the six larger banks have taken the offshore route. Citigroup, WaMu, B of A, JP Morgan Chase, Wachovia and Wells Fargo have active offshore programs and over the last two years have had significant lay offs.

Sun Micro's Jonathan Schwartz The Genius?

Now that the "no brainer" part has been done; cutting 15% of their workforce and selling off their real estate, can Schwartz deliver.

Sun MicroSystems announced another "restructuring" that will save the company about $150 million a year. Since the company is deliberately vague about giving details on how many or where the cuts will occur, the street estimates that 2,000 jobs will be lost.

From a Barbara Grady article on insideBayArea.com:

"Sun already eliminated 3,700 jobs since Schwartz took over in April 2006. It closed its Newark and Sunnyvale campuses."

"Since there last round of cuts primarily hit the U.S., we can assume that these cuts are also targeting U.S. facilities.

"But in cutting these jobs and real estate costs and boosting sales of its server computers, it tripled its profit margin to 8 percent by its most recent quarter and consequently returned to making money."

From the Boston Business Journal:

"In June, the Boston Business Journal reported that Nordblom Co. acquired Sun Microsystems' Burlington campus for $212 million and planned a remake of 800,000-square-foot property."

"Sun Microsystems said it planned to downsize its presence at the 158-acre campus, which was built in 1998. As part of the sale of the property, Sun Microsystems will remain a tenant but will lease 100,000 square feet less or about 450,000 square feet."

American Axle Moving More Jobs Out Of The U.S.

From a Buffalo News Business article by Fred O. Williams: “American Axle & Manufacturing confirmed plans to idle the company’s 734-job Buffalo plant — formerly the city’s largest source of factory jobs…”

What was interesting was the openness that Chief Executive Richard Dauch discussed the offshoring of U.S. jobs: “Seventy-five percent of new business backlog is sourced to non-U.S. facilities,”

From the article:

“The new orders will go to plants in Guanajuato, Mexico; Changshu, China; Araucaria, Brazil; and Olawa, Poland, he said. The business may also lead to construction of other non-U.S. plants.”

“The company said that costs at U.S. plants remain high, despite a buyout that erased 1,500 production jobs nationally”

‘“If you keep doing that, in America we’re going to be working for poverty wages,” said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of some form of retribution.’

‘“Our profits are coming from overseas,” Chief Financial Officer Michael Simonte said during the conference call.’

California Sending DMV Data To Mexico

From a Peggy Lowe article in the Orange County Register:

“Orange County's Superior Court contracts with a company that uses workers in Nogales, Mexico, to do the data entry of traffic tickets, a revelation on Thursday that outraged many who fear personal information is leaving the country.”

The individual courts have the authority to contract out the services that they oversee. And the workers in Nogales, Mexico that do the data entry of traffic tickets, have national felony background checks and they are also certified by the Sonoran State Police.

But if the confidential personal DMV data is compromised, what recourse do the courts really have against the company. Once the damage is done, hundreds or thousands of identities could be stolen with millions of dollars of damage done.

Do we trust the Mexican police to keep millions of dollars of our personnel data safe?

Amkor Tech Packaging Up The Few U.S. Jobs Left

Amkor Technology is the world’s second largest contract chip packager. With 22,000 employees that work in 15 factories around the world, they are now releasing 150 out of 270 workers in their last U.S. factory. Located in North Carolina’s Research Triangle.

From an Amanda Jones Hoyle article in the Triangle Business Journal:

“The remaining 120 Triangle employees, mostly engineering staff, will focus on research and development. The RTP facility is Amkor's only remaining manufacturing plant in the United States.”

“The company acquired RTP-based Unitive and its Taiwan-based sister company, Unitive Semiconductor Taiwan Corp., in 2004. Its operations in Morrisville and on Cornwallis Road in RTP are what remain of Unitive, a company that was honored as the "North Carolina electronics company of the year" in 2003 by what is now called the North Carolina Chamber.”

AstraZeneca Gives 1-In-10 The Unemployment Pill

AstraZeneca announced that they will be laying off 4,600 after 3,000 layoffs where announced in February. The company’s website lists over 66,000 employees with 27% in the Americas? The company will have 69,000 after their purchase of Medimmune Inc. These layoffs represent more than one-out-of-ten.

They list 10 U.S. locations with the largest employment concentrations in Wilmington, DE, Westborough, MA and Newark, NJ. It will be interesting to find out what the percentage of U.S. layoffs will be.

Earlier this year Times 100 best companies to work lists AstraZeneca as 71st on the list. An interesting statistic from the Times list is that they hired 174 people last year after receiving almost 110,000 applications.

Medimmune Inc. website about lists 3,000 employees is headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD., manufacturing in Fredericksburg, MD. and Immune facilities in Philadelphia and Bensalem, Pa., and Santa Clara, Ca. Their about page also lists a facility in Kentucky with no further identification.

Help Wanted Ads At 49 Year Low

The Conference Board issued a Press Release today on its monthly reading of U.S. help wanted advertising. It also stated that on-line advertising took a 2% dip in June.

With this reading happening in June, at the start of a busy summer season, does not bode well for the remainder of the year. The report also pointed out that the reading has been down in all regions of the country for three consecutive months. The Pacific region is leading the country by being down almost 25%.

Another issue is the effect that lower job demand has on wages. As competition for applicants moves down, so do the salaries that employers have to pay to fill those openings.

LSI Leveraging Worldwide Contract Manufacturing Ecosystem = U.S. Layoffs

As written about earlier this month LSI announced 900 layoffs - Strategic Restructuring 900 To The Unemployment Line.

Less than three weeks later they announce another 2,100 layoffs. From their website they have 13 North American facilities outside of their home town of Milpitas, Ca. The company made no indication of where or when the cuts will take place or if any severance packages will be offered.

From the LSU July 25, Press Release:

Abhi Talwalkar, LSI president and CEO, said, "As a result of the steps we are taking today, LSI will be well positioned to leverage the worldwide contract manufacturing ecosystem to further reduce our costs and improve our gross margins over time. Additionally, we anticipate significant benefits from additional sourcing options and worldwide fulfillment capabilities."

The company, other than their own back-slapping, gives no information on employment numbers or layoff information. If anyone can add to this sparse info, please leave a comment.

Additional article in the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journalabout LSI: LSI posts $378M Q2 loss, plans $100M sale and 2,100 job cuts

Support John Kerry’s FORWARN Act.

Imagine that, I actually agree with Sen. John Kerry.

STEVE EDER and JAMES DREW staff writers for the toledoblade.com reports that Senators Kerry and Stabenow support Senator Sherrod Brown’s reform of the WARN Act.

I have often stated that employers are finding numerous ways around the reporting requirements of the WARN Act. I only hope that the final reform passes with solutions that closes the Bill’s loopholes.

I am usually against additional regulations on American employers, but if employers had to provide comprehensive reporting on layoffs and restructuring, we might see a little less of the under-the-table shuffling of staff to hide layoffs and offshoring activities.

UAW, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Fight To Survive At Retirees Expense

Over the years auto workers have given up wage-gains, allowing the company to walk away with a promise of improved retirement benefits. Now that the future is here, the companies are going to attempt to negotiate their way out of those promises.

Last year the combined big three (B3) lost $15 billion and face legacy costs of $114 billion from those previous “promises”. The auto makers priorities are no secret; transfer those legacy costs to a shrinking UAW, drastically cut wages, shift the healthcare and retirement costs to their current workforce, implement a two-tier wage schedule and increase the use of part-time workers.

As written about in Toyota Is Running A One Person Hybrid Race, the B3 made a conscious decision to give up the small car market preferring the higher margins obtained by pumping out petrosauruses. That decision has allowed the small car manufacturers to capture the U.S. market putting the B3 at a huge disadvantage.

As the contract negotiations get underway there are a few other current events that help shape the UAW’s position. In the recent contract signed with bankrupt (financially and morally) Delphi, the Future of the Union writes:

“A federal bankruptcy judge approved this morning a new labor deal between Delphi Corp and the United Auto Workers that offers senior workers cash payments in exchange for accepting lower wages."

“Delphi will close 11 of 21 UAW represented plants. It will operate 4, while 7 will be sold and operated by other companies. As a result, the 17,000 UAW members at Delphi will drop to 10,000 or 11,000 in the next few years —“

But it would appear that the UAW is getting help laying down the rules for the “part-time” designation, from a Business First of Buffalo article Delphi faces out-of-state hurdle by Thomas Hartley:

”A union representing more than 2,000 workers at Delphi Corp. plants in Ohio, Alabama and Mississippi said Friday that it has filed a contract termination notice with the bankrupt automotive-parts supplier.”

From Delphi accepts equity bid; judge approves union deal by Vinnee Tong
of the Associated Press and printed on the journalgazette.net:

“Wages will drop to a range of $14 to $18.50 an hour from $27 an hour. The cuts are effective immediately."

Equal work, unequal pay Josee Valcourt / The Detroit News

"BELVIDERE, Ill . -- At $18.50 an hour with limited benefits, Forrest Ammons earns a decent living building cars at Chrysler's Belvidere, Ill., assembly plant."

"But Ammons toils side-by-side with workers who make $10 an hour more than he does and enjoy full health care coverage, generous vacation time and a host of other benefits and protections."

"Ammons, 35, is what's known at the Belvidere plant as an "enhanced temporary worker," a designation that not only sets him apart from his full-time co-workers."

From the Dayton Business Journal article Delphi union initiates strike plan:

“The IUE-CWA labor union said Friday that it has filed a contract termination notice with Troy, Mich.-based Delphi. The notice allows the local chapters to strike after midnight Oct. 13.”

“As part of the notice, the union also revoked its permission for Delphi to continue to use temporary employees in IUE-CWA represented facilities. The union said Delphi has the option of reducing production output or hiring the workers as permanent.”

From Contract showdown begins by Josee Valcourt / The Detroit News

”Nothing less than the future of the U.S. auto industry is at stake in this year's bargaining. Automakers want to eliminate a $30 gap in hourly labor costs that puts them at a competitive disadvantage with their Japanese rivals.”

“The key issue is can we have competitive firms and middle-class jobs?"

“Amid shrinking sales and mounting losses, Detroit automakers have cut tens of thousands of jobs since the last round of bargaining in 2003.”

“In an unprecedented move in 2005, the UAW agreed to shoulder more health care costs at GM and Ford because of the companies' financial problems. Under those deals, active workers agreed to give up pay raises to help finance retiree health care while retirees' out-of-pocket expenses increased.”

From Powerless, retirees fear losing benefits:

“Retirees are typically fiercely proud of their auto careers and staunch defenders of the United Auto Workers union. But they are growing increasingly concerned about the fate of their health care coverage and pensions during upcoming contract talks.”

“They will have no vote on a contract that could dramatically overhaul their benefits, known as automakers' legacy costs. And many current workers say they expect to approve a deal in which everyone, including retirees, will have to make sacrifices.”

“The deals slashed $1 billion from GM's retiree health bill and more than $850 million from Ford's.”

"We took benefits instead of wages a lot of times, so our feeling is we've already paid for our benefits. Why should they be able to take it away?"

“With new workers paid far less than their colleagues doing the same job, Chrysler's Belvidere plant may be the future.”

IUE threatens strike against Delphi By DON SHILLING VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

The bottleneck in negotiations follows a settlement between Delphi and its largest union, the United Auto Workers. A bankruptcy court judge Thursday approved that contract, which cuts hourly wages from $27 to between $14 and $18.50.

"The union had allowed temporary workers as a goodwill gesture as long as talks toward an acceptable contract were progressing," Clark said. "Hopefully with this action, progress may improve."

Packard needs the temporary workers because of a large cut in its hourly work force last year. Nearly 3,100 of its 3,800 hourly workers in the Mahoning Valley at the time accepted buyouts and early retirement offers.

From a Bill Koenig article UAW Chief Stuck Between Reuther Legacy, `Crashing' Car Industry:

“At the same time, Gettelfinger's union is shrinking. UAW membership in December was 538,448, about one-third of its 1.5 million peak in 1979, as GM, Ford and Chrysler have cut jobs while losing U.S. market share. Thousands more members are departing GM and Ford this year in UAW-negotiated buyout programs.”

Altria Optimizes Worldwide Cigarette Production

Is this an accident or a planned timed release of information. In June, Altria announces in a June 26, 2007 Altria Group Press Release that they will be closing their Cabarrus, NC. facility, “optimizing” as many as 2,500. Three weeks later they announce in a July 18, 2007 Press Release an additional purchase of Grupo Carso that takes their ownership to 80%.

From their Altria Group Press Release:

“PMI is expected to shift sourcing of approximately 57 billion cigarettes from Cabarrus to PMI facilities in Europe by the third quarter of 2008,”

They state that only production for foreign market consumption will be moved. My question is could there also be plans in the works that would cause further moves of U.S. production to Mexican plants for U.S. consumption.

G.M. Buying 50% In Italian Diesel Manufacturer

A follow-up to the last article.

G.M., listen up, the answer is not to keep remaking the “super tank” segment of the car market but to bring true American ingenuity into the small and medium market. Take your Saturn brand and make it a superior American made vehicle and they-will-come.

From the Business First of Buffalo bought a 50% stake into the V.M. Motori S.p.A. from Penski Corp.. As stated in the last article the auto manufacturers see diesel, not Hybrids, as the next step in combating foreign oil and pollution.

In Toyota Is Running A One Person Hybrid Race we stated that G.M. will put diesels into their larger vehicles, from the article:

“The plant announced in June that it would start producing a new 4.5-liter turbocharged diesel engine in late 2009 for light duty pickup trucks and the Hummer H2.”

“GM will use a 2.9 liter, V-6, made in Italy by VM Motori, in the Cadillac CTS and Saturn Aura.”

Toyota Is Running A One Person Hybrid Race

Jerry Flint, in a Forbes.com article, paints a clear picture of the market and the near-term prospects for the hybrid auto industry. The MSM has hyped hybrids as our only current solution we have to save America from the evil oil companies, at least till ethanol production and distribution spreads across the country. But that’s another article.

Toyota has five hybrid models that have combined sales, for the first six months of 2007, of 140,000. The Prius accounts for 94,000 or two-thirds of the hybrid sales for Toyota and Lexus combined.

For the same six months the Honda Civic Hybrid sold 17,141, the Ford Escape Hybrid 11,444 units, while its half-brother the Mercury Mariner sold only 2,028 and Nissan’s didn’t bother to distribute the Altima hybrid nationally.

While Detroit will offer the Ford Tahoe and the Chrysler Durango with a hybrid option this fall, it appears that they still haven’t learned their lesson. The big three gave up on the small car market years ago, when oil was under $20 a barrel. They made a conscious and deliberate decision to capture the large (high margin) vehicle market with luxury sedans, pick-ups and vans. That decision worked for awhile but today the “Big 3” has become the small 3 and they are falling-over-themselves to send manufacturing offshore.

Other than Toyota, Flint does not paint a rosy picture for hybrids. He feels that the next reasonable step for the auto makers is in diesels. Honda has plans for a four cylinder diesel and again the “3” plan them larger vehicles.

They refuse to learn that margin is not always king and are making it harder and harder for Americans to buy American.

Economists Base Their Rosy Predictions On Selected Statistics

Many economists have been using our historically low unemployment rate (4.5) as proof positive that the trade deficit or that the massive offshoring effort by the country’s largest companies, is having no effect on the outlook of the American economy. Ron Scherer and Simone Baribeau wrote in a Christian Science Monitor that the entire job growth, experienced this year in the U.S., has been compliments of the service sector. The service sector has added 815,000 in the first half of this year while the economy, as a whole, has added 709,000. Without the service jobs that have been added, we would have lost 106,000.

What was missed in this equation, from the BLS The Employment Situation Report for June, is that Medical Services added 371,000, Government added 347,000 and Food & Beverage added 387,000 this year. That means that all other sectors combined, lost a total of 396,000 jobs this year.

This “good economy” is not broad based nor is it reaching most people, as written about in Earning Power And The American Dream the average American worker is earning $5,000 less a year, in purchasing power, the he did in 1974. The only reason family wages have increased is that the average family has more working members.