Obama's Policies Make Jobs Situation Still Grim

The Labor Department reported the economy added 162,000 jobs in July, after adding 188,000 in June. Unemployment fell to 7.4 percent, largely because 240,000 adults left the labor force.

Businesses continued the shift toward contingent workers. In July, 103,000 more Americans reported working part-time.

The growing importance of services like retailing and hospitality, and the rigidity and visceral anti-business campaigns of unions drive this trend; however, Obamacare's mandate for employer-paid health insurance coverage also impel the use of more part-time workers.

Overall, the jobs count may be up, but for most working families and recent college graduates the situation is grim. Adding in discouraged adults and part-timers who want full-time employment, the unemployment rate becomes 14.0 percent. And, for many years, inflation-adjusted wages have been falling and income inequality rising.

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