Jared Bernstein Lower Quotations

Maybe by the second quarter of next year, we'll be looking at some lower unemployment rate -- say in the 5 to 5.5 percent range, if we're lucky. But that would be the best to hope for, and it's based on our working through these excesses that persist.

(The) 43,000 new jobs is much too small a number to lower the unemployment number. The unemployment report underscores that the recovery is off to a slow start. The Fed will most certainly not raise (interest) rates in the near-term.

While we continue to generate middle-class jobs, I would say we're doing so at a slower pace than we have in the past.

This is a pretty negative report. The reason unemployment ticked down is the labor force contracted. That suggests fewer people are getting into the game, looking for work, and that kind of discouragement can lead to a lower unemployment rate.

He talks about lending a helping hand to the poor and disadvantaged. But these policies push the other way, toward lower wages and less racial inclusion.

Folks at the top of the income scale definitely notice when they're paying $3.50 a gallon for gasoline. But for them, that doesn't necessarily mean they are going to have to cut back elsewhere, ... Younger families have lower incomes.

The problem isn't simply that families are facing higher prices, particularly at the pump. It's also that they're facing lower wages. If wages were keeping pace with inflation, the pinch wouldn't be as hard.