May 7, 2020

Friday’s Jobs Number Won’t Be Big News

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I realize this is pointless, but I have to say it anyway. On Friday morning the BLS will release employment numbers for April. They will show something like eleventy jillion jobs lost, which will prompt banner headlines everywhere. Worst Job Loss Since Great Depression! Unemployment at Record High!

This is ridiculous. It’s like passing Prohibition and then following up with a breathless headline about people buying less booze. I mean, if you literally order 30 million people to stop working, then of course the BLS is going to report that 30 million jobs have been “lost.” It’s completely meaningless.

So is there any chance we could all go easy on this? You know, go ahead and report it, but do it in context and not in 100 point type? That would be great. Thanks.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

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