A few years ago I realized my favourite answer -- not journalism -- was depressing for someone who had already reserved a seat for himself or his child at one of Canada's more than 50 journalism programs.

That's right: 50. According to J-Source, the journalism website, there are 1,600 J-students at any given time preparing to work in an industry that has lost anywhere from one-third to half of its jobs in the last decade. The U.S. is always slightly ahead of us in trends, and in June the Chicago Sun-Times fired its entire photography staff, replacing it with iPhones for the remaining reporters. Since most reporters shoot about as well as most photogs spell, I'm breathlessly awaiting the next report of their declining circulation.

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It’s 4:18 a.m. and the strip mall is deserted. But tucked in back, next to a closed-down video store, an employment agency is already filling up. Rosa Ramirez walks in, as she has done nearly every morning for the past six months. She signs in and sits down in one of the 100 or so blue plastic chairs that fill the office. Over the next three hours, dispatchers will bark out the names of who will work today. Rosa waits, wondering if she will make her rent.

In cities all across the country, workers stand on street corners, line up in alleys or wait in a neon-lit beauty salon for rickety vans to whisk them off to warehouses miles away. Some vans are so packed that to get to work, people must squat on milk crates, sit on the laps of passengers they do not know or sometimes lie on the floor, the other workers’ feet on top of them.

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May saw an uptick of 0.3 percent in consumer spending in the United States, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That figure follows a revised 0.3 percent drop in April, which was previously reported to have declined 0.2 percent.

Consumer spending amounts to 70 percent of economic activity in the US. Reuters noted that while the pace has slowed since the first part of 2013, it is still likely to drive growth.

Commerce Dept. figures also showed that income grew by 0.5 percent in May.

Applications for unemployment benefits from workers fell by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 346,000 in the week ending on June 22.

Meanwhile, the four-week average of unemployment figures fell by 2,750 to 345,750, according to Labor Department figures — near the five-year-low of 338,000 that was reached in May.

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SNAP rolls increased sharply in the recession, as you’d expect—along with UI, SNAP was and is highly elastic to increased need—[and] they’ve decelerated of late as the economy has slowly improved, though here again, it’s not improved as fast for those more exposed to food insecurity.

But did they increase more than they “should have” over the past few years?  One simple way to answer that question is to build a statistical model of SNAP caseloads as a function of the economy, estimate the model through 2007, and then project caseloads over the next few years based on actual economic outcomes. Then compare your forecast to the actual path of food stamp rolls.  If the conservatives are right (and you’ve got a solid model), then your prediction should be well below the actual caseload path.

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But when we defend reform, I think we have a responsibility to stick to the facts as best we can, and I thought this piece went far beyond that threshold, particularly in claiming a shortage of low-wage workers (h/t: KR in comments):

In 1950, according to the Census Bureau, 56% of U.S. workers were high-school dropouts. Today, the figure is less than 5%.

The result is that the pool of people available to fill low-skilled jobs has shrunk dramatically.

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A new Reuters report reveals that 20 of 52 surveyed outlets are only hiring temps, an abrupt departure from company policy. (Typically, the behemoth retailer recruits temps during the busy holiday shopping season). Wal-Mart's U.S. chief executive Bill Simon has confirmed the increase in temp workers, internally called "flexible associates," but company spokesman David Tovar denies that Wal-Mart is ratcheting up its temp workforce to cut costs.

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Economic determinists — fatalists, really — assume that globalization and technological change must now condemn a large portion of the American workforce to under-unemployment and stagnant wages, while rewarding those with the best eductions and connections with ever higher wages and wealth. And therefore that the only way to get good jobs back and avoid widening inequality is to withdraw from the global economy and become neo-Luddites, destroying the new labor-saving technologies.

That’s dead wrong. Economic isolationism and neo-Ludditism would reduce everyone’s living standards. Most importantly, there are many ways to create good jobs and reduce inequality.

Other nations are doing it. Germany was generating higher real median wages until recently, before it was dragged down by austerity it imposed the European Union. Singapore and South Korea continue to do so. Chinese workers have been on a rapidly-rising tide of higher real wages for several decades. These nations are implementing national economic strategies to build good jobs and widespread prosperity. The United States is not.

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The entry of over 400,000 into the labor market led the closely watched labor force participation rate to tick up slightly as well, from 63.3% to 63.4%.  I expect the historically low LFPR to start rising as most working-age people can only sit out the slowly improving job market for so long.  This will, however, put upward pressure on the jobless rate as more job seekers compete for slots.

What we have here is a high stakes game of musical chairs, as payrolls grow at a steady, if not-that-impressive, clip, essentially adding chairs to the game.  Meanwhile, more players are coming off the sidelines looking for places to sit.  Last month, there were more new players than seats.  In future months, we’ll keep a close eye on how that balances out.

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The unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent from 7.5 percent in April, the Labor Department said Friday. The rate rose because more people began looking for work, a healthy sign. About three-quarters found jobs.

The government revised the job figures for the previous two months. April's gain was lowered to 149,000 from 165,000. March's was increased slightly to 142,000 from 138,000. The net loss was 12,000 jobs.

Stocks rose when the market opened at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, an hour after the report was released. The Dow Jones industrial average was up about 82 points 10 minutes after stock trading began.

"Today's report has to be encouraging for growth in the second half of the year," said Dan Greenhaus, an analyst at BTIG LLC.

Employers have added an average of 155,000 jobs the past three months. But the May gain almost exactly matched the average increase of the past 12 months: 172,000.

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Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said Friday that unemployment rose to 12.2 percent in April from the previous record of 12.1 percent the month before.

European stocks fell in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.9 percent to 6,599.76. Germany's DAX lost 0.9 percent to 8,323.05. France's CAC-40 declined 1.1 percent to 3,952.50.

Wall Street also appeared headed for losses. Dow Jones industrial futures shed 0.5 percent to 15,237. S&P 500 futures dropped 0.6 percent to 1,643.40.

The dour European jobs figures came on top of lackluster U.S. economic reports Thursday that raised expectations the Federal Reserve will stick to its aggressive stimulus policies.

U.S. unemployment claims rose and first-quarter growth was revised lower, which in a perverse turn of events was encouraging for some investors who want to see the Fed continue its mammoth purchases of government bonds to support the U.S. economy.

The Fed's $85 billion-a-month purchases are aimed at keeping interest rates low to spur borrowing and investment. The efforts have boosted stock markets, where investors have turned for returns beyond what bonds are paying.

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The Commerce Department said Thursday that economic growth in the first quarter was only marginally below the 2.5 percent rate originally estimated. That's still much faster than the 0.4 percent growth during the October-December quarter.

Economists believe growth is slowing to around a 2 percent rate in the April-June quarter, as the economy adjusts to federal spending cuts, higher taxes and further global weakness. Still, many say the decline may not be as severe as once thought. That's because solid hiring, surging home prices and record stock gains should keep consumers spending.

Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity as measured by the gross domestic product, the economy's total output of goods and services.

The government's second look at GDP in the first quarter showed that consumer spending roared ahead at a 3.4 percent rate. That's the fastest growth in more than two years and even stronger than the 3.2 percent rate estimated last month.

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In China, the headaches for the younger generation may have just begun.

This summer, nearly 7 million students will graduate from Chinese universities — a record high. Of these, only 27 percent of Beijing graduates and 30 percent of Shanghai graduates have lined up jobs — a record low.

This flood of jobless graduates joins an already-deep pool of underemployed, educated young Chinese. Over the last decade, the number of college graduates has multiplied six-fold, while the number of white-collar jobs has not kept up. According to the state-run China Youth Daily newspaper, the number of jobs available has dropped 15 percent since 2012.

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Cathy Harding: At the upcoming Rediscovering Government conference titled “A Bold Approach to the Jobs Emergency,” you’re going to make the case that solving the jobs emergency requires a comprehensive approach. Is that a new perspective on job creation? In other words, what needs to be included as part of a meaningful response that has not be included before?

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Most Americans can be legally fired for almost any reason. Private sector workplace relationships tend to operate under the standard of employment-at-will, which means you can be fired for the color of your shirt, your political views, supporting your favorite sports team or for refusing to fetch your boss a cup of coffee. The Bill of Rights does not apply to your office.

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The Labor Department report showed the job market is improving despite higher taxes and government spending cuts.

In addition to the April gains, the government said employers added 138,000 jobs in March and 332,000 in February. That's 114,000 more over the two months.

The economy has created an average of 208,000 jobs a month from November through April. That's above the 138,000 added in the previous six months.

A fire overnight at the Labor Department's headquarters shut down the building for most employees. Members of the media were allowed in for the release of the report.

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So it seems like an inopportune time to think about changing jobs, if you’re lucky enough to have one, or being very picky if you don’t. But Roman Krznaric, a British author, empathy theorist and “lifestyle philosopher,” thinks he has the solution.

Krznaric’s book “How to Find Fulfilling Work” is an entry in the School of Life, Alain de Botton’s series of self-help books for people who wouldn’t be caught dead in the self-help section. In it, Krznaric argues that the way we’ve been trained to find our life’s work is completely wrong. He takes issue in particular with the personality tests administered by career counselors to judge one’s strengths and interests. They’re complete bunk, Krznaric argues, pointing out that you’ve got a 50 percent chance of being placed in a different personality category if you retake the test.

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But only slightly beneath the surface, the report showed continuing weaknesses in the US economy and, consistent with the unexpectedly weak March jobs report, hints at another softening of demand in recent months.  Expectations were for growth above 3% but disposable income, a critical driver of growth in our 70% consumption economy, fell sharply, down 5% in real terms, partly due the loss of the payroll tax break.

The two main factors propelling the economy forward last quarter were firms restocking their shelves (inventory build-up adds to GDP growth) and strong spending by the stalwart American consumer, drawing not on their income but on their savings.  Since the inventory component is both highly volatile and less indicative of current demand, it’s useful to look at final demand, essentially GDP without the inventory build-up.  This measure grew 1.5% in real terms in the first quarter, down from 1.9% in the last quarter.  Again, this less volatile measure tracks demand more closely than the headline number.

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The Commerce Department said Friday that the economy rebounded from an anemic 0.4 percent annual growth rate in the October-December quarter. Consumer spending surged at an annual rate of 3.2 percent — its biggest jump since the end of 2010.

Growth was also helped by businesses, which responded to the greater demand by rebuilding their stockpiles. And home construction rose further.

Government spending sank at a 4.1 percent annual rate, led by another deep cut in defense spending. The decline kept last quarter's increase in economic growth below expectations of a 3 percent rate or more.

Many economists say they think growth as measured by the gross domestic product is slowing in the April-June quarter to an annual rate of just 2 percent. Most foresee growth remaining around that subpar level for the rest of the year.

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Then there’s the bad news.

For anyone who takes a peek at where his or her income tax dollars are going, Tax Day can be maddening. Outsized chunks of our taxes fund the military, rising healthcare costs, and interest on the federal debt. Comparatively tiny amounts go to education, science, alternative energy, and the environment.

Category by category, this is contrary to what Americans want -- and what we the people want is pretty clear. Despite near-constant news about how polarized our nation is, a careful look at opinion polls indicates that a strong majority of Americans actually have a coherent to-do list for Washington: we want more jobs, smaller deficits, more education funding, reduced reliance on fossil fuels, higher taxes on the wealthiest, plus -- the kicker -- Medicare and Social Security benefits preserved. You know, it’s the typical story of wanting to have our cake and gobble it down, too. Right?

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King was only 39 when he was murdered in Memphis 45 years ago, on April 4th, 1968. The 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery were behind him. So was the successful passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. In the last year of his life, as he moved toward Memphis and his death, he announced what he called the Poor People’s Campaign, a “multi-racial army” that would come to Washington, build an encampment and demand from Congress an “Economic Bill of Rights” for all Americans — black, white, or brown. He had long known that the fight for racial equality could not be separated from the need for economic equity — fairness for all, including working people and the poor.

Martin Luther King, Jr., had more than a dream — he envisioned what America could be, if only it lived up to its promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for each and every citizen. That’s what we have conveniently forgotten as the years have passed and his reality has slowly been shrouded in the marble monuments of sainthood.

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