The job numbers the government will release Friday could represent more bad news, even if they hit expected benchmarks, says economist Peter Morici.
Most economists expect the jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to show the creation of some 200,000 jobs, Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland, said on "The Steve Malzberg Show" Thursday on Newsmax TV.
However, even if it hits that benchmark, Morici said, it still will be only about half of what the economy needs to see on a monthly basis to truly turn around.
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"I would say that it's more like 350,000 to 400,000 [that are needed.] Almost double because we have so many people who've left the labor force who we need to have come back," Morici said.
The U.S. economy has grown at a rate of 1.9 percent since the turn of the century, said Morici, compared to 3.4 percent in the 20 years prior.
"In that tells the whole tale," he said. "It's not just the Obama people; it's the Obama-Bush administrations together, for varying reasons, have not made the right moves."
Those missteps have included trade agreements that have increased the trade deficit, underdevelopment of domestic oil and gas resources, misguided regulation of Wall Street and inefficiencies in various government policies, including the Affordable Care Act.
"The Obama people, the movement really that he represents has created a fundamental cultural shift," Morici said. "It's this value-based economic policy thats sort of based on social good. Somebody has to pay the bills."
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