Dark clouds over U.S. labor

Labor Day on Long Island is traditionally a chance for one last burst of fun before the resumption of school and the cooling temperatures that signal the end of summer.

But this year too many Americans have too little to celebrate because they are out of work. Nationally, the unemployment rate remains at 9.1 percent, and while it's only 7.1 percent on Long Island, that's still way too high.

On Friday, as if to deepen the holiday gloom, came news from the Labor Department that the economy failed to gain any more jobs than were lost in August. That's right: a net gain of zero. The unemployment rate didn't change, but a broader measure, counting underemployment, crept up to 16.2 percent. There are now 28 million Americans jobless, taking a break from looking, working part-time when they want a full-time job, or who have given up altogether.

And there is little prospect of relief soon. Some signs suggest the nation may be headed into another recession, if one hasn't already begun. U.S. consumers are strapped, with millions owing more on their homes than the places are worth. Europe is struggling with a slow-motion debt crisis. Japan, becalmed for years, is coping with the aftermath of natural disasters and a nuclear meltdown.

Washington, meanwhile, remains obsessed with deficits, which makes any major new jobs program unlikely. The Federal Reserve may yet return to issuing more money out of thin air, but it too is divided, with some Fed governors recently signaling worries about inflation. And even aggressive Fed action is unlikely to produce millions of new jobs soon.

Joblessness is an urgent problem, but it obscures more enduring -- and troubling -- trends that are worth noting on a day devoted to labor. Average wages, for example, have been flat for 30 years, while income inequality has grown sharply. In 1976, the top 1 percent of earners garnered 9 percent of total income. In 2007 they got nearly 25 percent. Organized labor -- the original force behind the Labor Day holiday -- has been waning for half a century; last year only 12 percent of American workers belonged to a union. That's the culmination of a steady decline from a peak of 28 percent in 1954.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama is to lay out a new jobs plan in an address to Congress. We'll be listening, but we're skeptical. We don't believe there's much Washington can do about unemployment without adding to the towering national debt. Better to lay the groundwork for long-term growth by paring federal spending, reforming the tax code, rebuilding infrastructure and speeding regulatory changes to limit uncertainty for business. In the short run, Uncle Sam can help by adding another year to the 2 percent payroll tax cut and the federal unemployment extension providing jobless benefits for up to 99 weeks. Both measures might stimulate the economy -- a little -- and help those most in need.

The unemployment that grips us now is urgent, but ultimately transient given America's many economic strengths. More worrisome, in the long run, are deeper problems -- debt, wage stagnation, trade imbalances, runaway health costs and growing inequality -- that predate the current joblessness and, we fear, will survive it. hN