NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The U.S. Labor Department is expected to report Friday that the economy added about 215,000 jobsain September, about half of what is needed each month to bring unemployment down to pre-financial crisis levels. The official unemployment rate is 6.1%, but that hardly provides a fair description of the jobs crisis. Not counted are prime working age adults who have quit looking for a job, part-time workers who want full-time positions and young college graduates who have enrolled in graduate school because they can't find decent employment. Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks The real jobless rate is likely closer to 20%, and the root cause is slow economic growth. Since 2000, GDP has advanced 1.7% annually, about half the pace of the Reagan-Clinton years. Five factors are slowing growth and making jobs scarce. Poorly Enforced Trade Agreements U.S. consumers and businesses are spending, but too many dollars go abroad to pay for Chinese-made consumer goods and Middle East oil. China has systematically undervalued its currency to put cheap goods into U.S. markets, destroying millions of good-paying American manufacturing jobs. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have refused to enforce World Trade Organization rules that prohibit currency manipulation to gain competitive advantage. Misguided Energy Policies Washingtonahas chosen to outsource -- not reduce -- environmental risks associated with petroleum development by prohibiting or curtailing production off the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts and in Alaska. Safely developing those resources, along with prudent conservation, would slash oil imports to zero and create millions of jobs. Must Read: 10 Stocks George Soros Is Buying Burdensome Government Regulations and Taxes U.S. business regulations are more costly than necessary to protect consumers and accomplish environmental goals. Along with U.S. efforts to curtail CO2 emissions while China, India and others refuse to do the same, those regulations send American jobs to Asia. The U.S. corporate tax is among the highest in the world. Along with arbitrary taxes on overseas profits, high rates motivate U.S. businesses to relocate abroadaand discourage foreign investment in the U.S. Corruption and Monopolies Whereas deregulation was the theme of the Reagan-Clinton era, today's leaders appear not to value a vibrant private sector and spirited competition. They offer special privileges that permit Wall Street banks, cable companies, medical insurers and rural hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and the like to monopolize markets and gouge customers, all in exchange for big campaign contributions and lucrative jobs after public officials leave office. This corruption breeds inefficiency, limits production and innovation, and kills jobs. Disincentives to Work, Poorly Run Universities and Immigration In recent decades, we have seen a substantial expansion of public benefits that discourage work through the Earned Income Tax Credit, Social Security disabilities program, Medicare drug benefits, Medicaid, ObamaCare, and student grants and loans. Must Read: Here Are 20 Stocks That Could Buck the Odds and Do Well in October Increasingly, colleges and universities attract students by spending heavily on athletic arenas, flashy student centers and other resort amenities. To finance sports spectacles, evening yoga lessons and ever larger salaries for presidents and coaches, universities jack up tuition and shuffle students into cheap-to-staff majors, such as art history and sociology, while limiting access to programs with better career potential, like engineering and finance. Too many graduates lack career ready skills and are burdened with excessive debt. Thanks to the combination of work disincentives and poor career training, nearly all the jobs created in this century have gone to immigrants. At the lower end of the wage scale, immigrants take many jobs government benefits programs encourage lower-skilled Americans to decline; and at the high end, immigrants take many technical positions native-born college graduates lack the skills to do. Must Read: Steady Jobs Report Points to Patient Path on Interest-Rate Hikes for the Fed Just eliminating the trade deficit would double U.S. economic growth. Addressing the other problems would easily boost growth to 5% a year, and Americans would have all the good paying jobs they want and plenty more for new arrivals. pmorici@rhsmith.umd.edu This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage. a
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