Thread by @eliselgould

Back-to-school #jobsreport shows a continue shortfall in public education jobs
epi.org/press/back-to-…
@EconomicPolicy (1/n)

This morning’s #jobsreport showed that the economy added 134,000 jobs in September, down from 270,000 jobs created in August.

Note: large revisions increased the August number from their initial report. (2/n)

This below trend topline number is partially due to Hurricane Florence, which made landfall during the reference period for this survey. Over the last three months the labor market has added 190,000 job per month on average, which is likely closer to the underlying trend. 3/n

Nominal wages grew 2.8% over the year, roughly in line with inflation, but continues to lag behind target levels. epi.org/nominal-wage-t…
4/n

Key indicators like the prime-age employment-to-population ratio (unchanged in September) show we have much more room to pull workers in off the sidelines.
5/n

Today's #jobsreport gives us data to examine the teacher employment gap—the gap between local public education employment and what is needed to keep up with growth in the student population. There are still 116,000 fewer public education jobs than in 2007.
@NEAToday @AFTunion 6/n

If we include the number of jobs that should have been created just to keep up with growing student enrollment, there is a 389,000 job shortfall in public education employment. State and local government austerity since the recession has contributed to this shortfall.
7/n

Consequences of this gap are clear: larger class sizes, fewer teacher aides, fewer extracurricular activities, changes to curricula—and, as made clear by the numerous strikes over the last year, teachers suffer from subpar wages and working conditions.
epi.org/publication/te… 8/8