Several years ago (and then subsequently renewed almost every year) Barack Obama unviled [7]a manufacturing initative during one of his countless teleprompted appearances before the nation, in which he promised to do everything in his power to boost the US manufacturing sector. It should therefore come as no surprise that in the month of April America's attempts to rekindle a manufacturing renaissance have fizzled once again, with a tiny 1,000 manufacturing jobs added, following zero manufacturing jobs added the month before.
Putting this in perspective, for every manufacturing job added in April there were 26 new waiters and bartenders confirming the "robustness" of America's jobs recovery. The chart below shows the progression of how America is slowly but surely transforming from a manufacturing society to one of waiters and bartenders.
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Perhaps a better way to show the transformation is the following: since the start of the second great recession in December 2007, there have been 1.4 million manufacturing jobs lost. They have been almost completely "offset" by the 1.3 million waiter and bartender jobs gained. In short: serving food is the new making stuff.
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Finally, here is the full breakdown of which occupations made up the 224K jobs added in April. One can see why without the "benefits" of Obamacare and the student bubble, the US jobs "recovery" story may have some trouble.
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