5 random things for a Friday (jobs, the Pope and Ludwig von Mises)

News Story of the Day: this past summer was a tough one for job creation, at least according to the data provided by the Department of Labor and the Federal Reserve. Despite the Fed-induced boom, the share of people with jobs fell to the lowest level since 1977, the year Jimmy Carter was president (don’t scream).

The share of the United States population in the workforce fell to 62.4 percent. This statistic includes those who have jobs or are currently looking for one. Last month, approximately 350,000 workers dropped out of the labor force.

The official unemployment rate held steady at 5.1 percent.

The relative gains in the labor market may be cooling off as quantitative easing has come to an end. Payrolls, excluding farming, rose just 142,000, and August numbers were modified lower to only 136,000 jobs. Overall, 59,000 fewer jobs were created during the summer months. This represents the smallest two-month gain in employment over a year’s period. Some fear that China’s economic slowdown could be contributing to the nation’s decline in jobs.

Chart of the Day: Here’s some more bad news for the labor market.

In September, the U.S. economy added a greater number of foreign-born workers than native-born employees. Could this be a sign that there’s a skills shortage going on in the U.S.? This is part of the reason why so many tech giants want to hire those from Asia because they seem to have greater skills than those who were born here. Indeed, perhaps this is just a failed outcome of government schooling. The chart below is courtesy of ZeroHedge.

Illustration of the Day: Pope Francis made his way to the United States this past week to lecture everyone on capitalism and the environment. Using the standard talking points, he encouraged everyone to care more for the planet and to reduce carbon emissions. He said this while traveling in a plane that emits a lot of carbon! (This cartoon was done by Henry Payne of the Detroit News via AEI).

Quote of the Day: Economist Thomas Sowell published a superb op-ed piece in Town Hall earlier this week. He opines about the fraud known as “affordable housing” and dives into the rising cost of housing in San Francisco. This is what he writes:

“Housing prices in San Francisco, and in many other communities for miles around, were once no higher than in the rest of the United States. But, beginning in the 1970s, housing prices in these communities skyrocketed to three or four times the national average.

“Why? Because local government laws and policies severely restricted, or banned outright, the building of anything on vast areas of land. This is called preserving “open space,” and “open space” has become almost a cult obsession among self-righteous environmental activists, many of whom are sufficiently affluent that they don’t have to worry about housing prices.”

Video of the Day: The Mises Institute is out with a fantastic video of Ludwig von Mises from 1962. The legendary economist talks about the disastrous economics of “middle-of-the-road policies.” Please be aware that you’ll have to turn up your volume and pay careful attention to what Mises is saying.