Going into the 2024 election, democrats are hailing about the job growth under team Biden, claiming it to be a “goldilocks” economy. But when you look underneath the hood, the employment numbers tell a different story.
According to Biden’s own Bureau of Labor Statistics the driver of the U.S. job growth over the last year has been from government, mostly on the state and local levels.
And besides government, many blue states are seeing growth among government related programs related to social assistance and healthcare.
“It’s the welfare-industrial complex and its booming,” says Allysia Finley, from the Wall St. Journal.
Finley points out that 56% of the 2.8 million net new jobs over the last year came from government, social assistance and healthcare.
Local governments are adding to the jobs role in the areas of dealing with drug addicts, the mentally ill, the homeless and illegal immigrants being allowed to stay in the U.S.
Adding to the list, local governments are also spending millions on subsidizing housing programs.
“During the Biden presidency, employment at “social advocacy organizations” has exploded. Every migrant, vagrant and endangered species apparently needs an advocate,” says Finley.
During covid, from 2020-2022, billions of dollars were given to many cities to handle these problems, but with all the billions spent, the increase in government services has continued to rise instead of a decline.
States and local governments have also allowed the expansion of Medicaid services to illegal immigrants costing billions to the taxpayer.
“More spending on Medicaid, migrants and the homeless means more jobs for the welfare-industrial complex,” says Finley.
Peter C. Earle, economist with the American Institute for Economic Research says most of the increase in private sector jobs haven’t come from Biden or the blue states, but red states like Florida.
The Wall Street Journals’ Allysia Finley says progressive governments and the groups they fund are not interested in solving pressing social problems.
“Treating mental illness and drug addiction, and getting the homeless into productive jobs, would mean fewer jobs for the welfare-industrial complex.
America’s welfare state has thus become a proverbial Big Dig, and it keeps getting bigger,” says Finley.
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