The Tide Has Turned

There are more employees of the government (local, state, and federal) than there are private sector goods-producing employees (mining, construction, manufacturing, etc). This disparity has been true since late 2007. The gap is now over 4 Million employees.
See chart and commentary here.

I hate to say I told you so, but...

I told you so. Just not in quite a high-minded economics fashion.

Wait, let me retract that. I said months ago that it's basic economics: raise the cost of labor, and demand for labor will decrease.

The argument for a "living wage" or a higher minimum wage has almost always been based on specious emotional reactions and not on sound economic facts. I maintain that the two quickest, best things that Our Gov't could do to mitigate both the current economic situation and the longer-term budget deficit would be to reduce corporate income taxes and lower minimum wage, with reduction of personal income taxes a close third. This would stimulate business development, production, hiring, investment, and make the US a more attractive business environment to foreign firms. All of which would, in aggregate and over time, increase the tax base and gives us a fighting chance to lower the deficit before our children are grandparents (assuming hell freezes over and Our Gov't reduces spending).

Correlation and Causation

This interactive graphic at the NYT is interesting.

Among other things, it illustrates data that shows that almost half of black men aged 15-24 without a HS degree have been unemployed at some point during the last 12 months. On the other hand, only 3.5% of white women aged 25-44 with a college degree have been unemployed at some point during the last 12 months.

Some might look at this data and think about the latent racism of our country. I think the data behind the numbers deserves a deeper look.
1) Somewhere between 30-40% of the 15-24 age bracket is not old enough to have completed high school, much less received a degree.
2) Teenage unemployment rates are historically significantly higher than that of the general populace. Wage floors (i.e. minimum wage laws) are a primary contributor to this phenomenon.
3) Skin color does not determine employability or lack thereof. Availability of jobs (supply) is one primary factor. But boiling job availability down to the word "supply" dilutes what is an incredibly complex soup of corporate, economic, governmental, individual, geographical, geopolitical, and financial ingredients. Taking into account the availability of jobs, there will always be a certain subsection of individuals who are more likely to be employed: college educated, highly-skilled, charismatic, intelligent, well-spoken, those with many well-placed contacts. I could go on. None of those characteristics have anything to do with race, gender, or income.
4) In case you're curious, blacks make up approximately 13% of the US population. Black men are a little more than 6% of the population. Black men ages 15-24 are approximately 1% of the population. Simple math says that if about 50% of these men are unemployed, then that equates to around one-half of one percent of all the unemployed people (10.2% of the populace) in the United States.

All of which to say: stop focusing on one small subgroup of America and start focusing on creating jobs. Which, if you are a (rational) government means lower taxes on businesses and individuals, remove the federal minimum wage laws, provide for the common defense, reduce the federal deficit, and get out of the way while businesses create, market, and sell products and services; hire employees; and (in aggregate) grow the economy out of the mess we find ourselves in.

It's the best job in the world, mate

I think I could do it. I have all the necessary qualifications, and maybe it would help me become just a little less pale white.