EDITORIAL: Who’s hiring and who’s not

Dig into the job numbers that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris like to brag about and they show why people are so concerned about the economy.

On the surface, the monthly employment numbers look good. In June, the economy added 206,000 jobs. The number of jobs has been increasing steadily for years as the economy rebounds from COVID. March was the best recent month with more than 300,000 new jobs.

Harris-Biden administration officials frequently cite this statistic as proof that the economy is booming.

“With today’s report that 206,000 jobs were created last month, a record 15.7 million jobs have been created during my administration,” Mr. Biden said in a statement this month. He continued, “More Americans are joining the workforce, with the highest share of working-age Americans in the workforce in over 20 years. That’s real progress for hardworking families who have the dignity and respect that comes with earning a paycheck and putting food on the table.”

But consider who’s covering those paychecks. As The Wall Street Journal notes, “Nearly three-quarters of the net new jobs in June were in government, health care and social assistance.”

This isn’t a one-off. Those sectors of the economy accounted for around half of the new jobs in May and more than 90 percent in April. Construction is the other major growth area. Remember, too, that the government revised the job numbers in April and May significantly downward.

Nevada is seeing similar trends. Leisure and hospitality jobs are a key indicator of economic health in this state. In January 2020, Nevada had just more than 357,000 jobs in that area. In June, the state had 363,300 jobs. That’s not much growth if you consider where Nevada was before the pandemic. The number of hospitality jobs didn’t pass the January 2020 number until late last year.

Government jobs, though, have risen significantly in Nevada. In January 2020, the government employed fewer than 168,000 people. Today, that number is more than 182,000. The same is true in education and health services. From January 2020 to June, the number of jobs has gone from around 148,000 to more than 169,000.

One encouraging sign is that Nevada continues to add construction jobs. Fewer than 100,000 people worked in that industry before COVID. The number has now risen 25 percent. Building more housing is key to lowering housing prices.

The disconnect — and a problem for Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris — should be obvious. Even if overall job numbers show growth, many people are having trouble finding work in their preferred field. In addition, much of the growth has been in the public sector. An economy driven primarily by an expanding government is not a recipe for long-term prosperity.