Goods Producing Jobs Tanking

All Goods Producing Jobs, YoY, non-seasonally adjusted

Source:  BLS

goods producing 2016-6.xlsx

If you wonder why the US economy is so stagnant the chart above explains it all.  Without producing the goods you consume, the underpinning of your economy is weak.  When times get tough the first things that are cut from personal and corporate budgets are services.  For individuals it is less dining out and fewer retail purchases.  For businesses it means fewer contracted services.  Even individuals will do more tasks themselves they'd hire done when times are better.

The chart above shows goods producing employment crossing below the previous years levels in January 2007, about 20 months before the stock market and entire economy nose dived.  It now looks like goods producing jobs are poised to cut below 2015 levels.  Manufacturing jobs are already well below 2015 levels as are mining, logging and oil & gas.

We can't continue to buy most of our manufactured goods from China, India and elsewhere, our oil from Saudi Arabia and Canada and our logs from Canada and expect our economy to be robust.