Twenty-five million Americans were unable to find full-time work in May. Nearly 14 million were officially classified as jobless. Millions more are outside the labor force and not being counted at all. We are surrounded by the evidence of a searing national tragedy. The crippling affliction of joblessness has become a way of life for millions.
Policymakers in Washington are behaving as if none of this is going on. President Obama referred to May’s execrable jobs numbers as a bump in the road. Republicans and Democrats alike are counseling austerity, which is like weakening the water pressure of firefighters trying to contain a conflagration. America’s leaders seem to have lost sight of the fundamental importance of employment – not just to the personal well-being of individuals and families, but as an absolutely crucial component of a healthy economy.
