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With all the media attention focused on the President’s trip to Asia and his handling of U.S. foreign policy, missing was coverage on a report of what types of jobs are being created.

The National Employment Law Project, a research and advocacy group, analyzed employment trends of the current recovery and found that the bulk of jobs being created are in the fast food industry.

 The report’s author, Michael Evangelist stated, “Fast food is driving the bulk of the job growth at the low end — the job gains there are absolutely phenomenal.”  He continued, “If this is the reality — if these jobs are here to stay and are going to be making up a considerable part of the economy — the question is, how do we make them better?”

This is a sobering metaphor of the state of the U.S. economy!  After spending over $7 trillion dollars since 2009, pumped more than $4 trillion in the Federal Reserve bond buyback program, which only really benefited Wall Street, to now find out the majority of jobs are being created in the fast food industry.

“If you look at the job growth distribution of the last two recoveries, it suggests we’re going to see growth of a lot more lower-income jobs,” said Peter Creticos, president and executive director for the Institute for Work and the Economy. He said that the lowest net growth was among middle-income jobs, such as manufacturing or office jobs, in the prior two recoveries. It remains to be seen what will happen with this recovery, he added, but “there is no indication this recovery will be any different.”

The National Employment Law Project study found that there were about a million fewer jobs in middle-wage industries — including parts of the health care system, loan servicing and real estate — than there were when the recession hit.

On Saturday, during his weekly radio address the president reiterated his argument that the minimum wage needs to be raised to $10.10 from its current level of $7.25.

The real problem is Washington is toying around with the margins of the economy, instead of really impacting improving the nation’s economy. 

In February, Congressional Budget Director Douglas Elmendorf reported to Congress that the Affordable Care Act would reduce 2 million jobs in the coming years.  According to CBO’s central estimate, raising the minimum wage to $10.10 nationwide as advocated by the president would lead to 500,000 less jobs by middle of 2016.

In the same report it would take 900,000 out of poverty and increase the income of 16.5 million low income workers.

In the same context, Elmendorf placed the number into perspective that the minimum wage would increase the wages for more people than from those expected to lose jobs.

“By our estimates … something like 97 or 99 percent of the people who would be affected by an increase in a minimum wage would receive higher wages, and their family incomes would be higher,” he said. “But at the same time, 1 percent, 3 percent of people would not be able to find employment.”

The argument will always continue on raising the minimum wage, but after spending $7 trillion dollars since 2009, we should have a robust economy by now.

Both parties are the true impediment to getting quality jobs back to America, but that will not change any time soon.

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