Forbes: America's #1 Problem is Jobs, Not Debt

So why is creating jobs the most important issue our country faces today? As Bill Gross, founder of investment management firm PIMCO notes, “Washington hassles over debt ceilings instead of job creation in the mistaken belief that a balanced budget will produce a balanced economy. It will not.” Gross’ argument is that our rising debt levels are merely a symptom of a larger problem—lack of consumption and investment, which is driven in large part by America losing jobs from globalization and automation. Sure, the unemployment rate has ticked down from 10% in 2009 to under 8% today, but this masks our real jobs problem. Of the over 13 million people who were unemployed at the end of August, 40% were without a job for over six months according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and 29% were without a job for more than a year, near the all-time high. Statistics show that regardless of education level, the longer someone is unemployed for, the tougher it is for them to find a job and when they do, it will likely be for a lower salary than their previous job. In fact, median household incomes today stand at 1996 levels.