If you are wondering why so many politicians seem clueless about the jobs situation in the United States, that's because the Bureau of Labor Statistics stopped tracking key decision-making data like green jobs employment, mass layoffs, and international labor comparisons.
It appears that President Barack Obama signed the sequestration legislation (formally known as the falsely-named Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act on March 2013. It is not known whether or not these data collection and reporting programs will be restored under a President Trump.
The actions that were taken include:
Eliminate the Measuring Green Jobs products. -- "The BLS produces data on employment by industry and occupation for businesses that produce green goods and services. The BLS also conducts special employer surveys to provide data on the occupations and wages of jobs related to green technologies and practices, as well as develops and disseminates career information related to green jobs."
Eliminate the Mass Layoff Statistics program. -- "The Mass Layoff Statistics program provides information that identifies, describes, and tracks the effects of major job cutbacks in the economy."
Eliminate the International Labor Comparisons program. -- "The International Labor Comparisons program adjusts foreign data to a common framework of concepts, definitions, and classifications to facilitate data comparisons between the United States and other countries. ILC data are used to assess United States economic performance relative to other countries, as well as to evaluate the competitive position of the United States in international markets.
Data that is not collected cannot be used for making sound public policies and often leads to a disproportionate allocation of funding that disadvantages many American workers.
