SBE Council Chief Economist: Latest Jobs Data Stoke Deep Worries About Entrepreneurship and Economy

Today, Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council), released the following statement in response to the July employment data reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

"The latest jobs report is bad news when you look at the data that matter most when it comes to the state of our economy and job creation.

"The establishment survey payroll numbers pointed to employment growth of 163,000. While at least positive, those numbers are far below where they should be during an economic recovery, such as in the neighborhood of 250,000.

"But the real story lies with the household survey, which better captures start up and small business activity, and is the survey from which we get the unemployment rate. The news here was all unequivocally bad.

"The labor force actually fell by 150,000, with the labor force participation rate declining and remaining at nearly three-decade lows. The discouragement of workers persists.

"Employment actually declined by 195,000, with the employment-population ratio also at near-30-year lows and the unemployment rate ticking up to 8.3 percent. Businesses simply are not creating jobs, being discouraged by uncertain and costly public policies relating to taxes, regulations, and government spending, for example.

"There's really nothing positive to latch onto here. Instead, the numbers only stoke more worries about the state of entrepreneurship and our economy."