Valin Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 AP: CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER1/7/11WASHINGTON – The nation's economy added 103,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent last month, its lowest level in 19 months.But the job growth fell short of expectations based on a strengthening economy. And the drop in unemployment was partly because people stopped looking for work.Private employers added a net total of 113,000 jobs last month and the government shed 10,000 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.(Snip) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanguine Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 If I heard Rush correctly, the drop in % is attributable to a drop in the number of available jobs calculation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepper Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Sanguine! If I heard Rush correctly, the drop in % is attributable to a drop in the number of available jobs calculation. Christmas is always wacky too, regarding brilliant Ben's comment that it will take years to go back to the normal 6% unemployment, it is not 6%. Average unemployment is 5.7% And that is over a 62 year period. http://www.miseryindex.us/urbymonth.asp?StartYear=1948-01&EndYear=2010-11&submit1=Create+Report And beginning 2003-12 (Can you say George Bush) we had a run that was less than 5.8% for four years! Not until the 'Rats came in with Pelosi did it climb. It broke 5.7% in in July 2008 (Pelosi and Reid), and never looked back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanguine Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Yes, and the "drop in unemployment" figure is apparently pure propaganda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCTexan Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Yes, and the "drop in unemployment" figure is apparently pure propaganda. You give me a numerator and let me manipulate the denominator... and I can give you any percentage that I want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepper Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 I bet you Barack-o-bites can even divide by Zero! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pollyannaish Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Lies, damned lies and statistics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evad Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Lies, damned lies and statistics. Indeed. Just out of curiosity, what do these people do that are "no longer looking for work"? How do live when you eventually decide "I'm not going to look for work anymore"?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pollyannaish Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Lies, damned lies and statistics. Indeed. Just out of curiosity, what do these people do that are "no longer looking for work"? How do live when you eventually decide "I'm not going to look for work anymore"?? Well, as a currently unemployed person I have my theories. First of all, at least in Washington State, you have to apply for three jobs a week or participate in three job related activities from a list of things— to continue getting benefits. You are audited on this. Since being laid off in July, I have been audited twice. But I also live in a small town, and there are fewer and fewer place for me to apply every day. My husband however, has a job, so its not like we can just pick up and move out of town if I should find something somewhere else. This puts a job seeker into a challenging position after awhile in small towns and on mainstreet. My guess is that at some point, a person like me would decide that it was becoming wasted energy to simply randomly apply for three things a week no matter what. The theory is that by applying aggressively you are eventually going to get something. Which may or may not be true. But in smaller locales, and in situations where one person in the family has a good job, there are things that don't work particularly well about this strategy. So, the person drops out of the benefits system because the requirements are not being met. They are probably not in general giving up on work, but rather choosing to look for it their own way rather than the state sanctioned way. In addition, that allows the person to take odd jobs without having it deducted from their benefits and still meeting the job search requirements. Also, some at the lower levels of the work force just give up and go on welfare. Right now, I'm competing with 16 year old single moms with GEDs for some jobs. That's just kind of weird because neither of us would be a good choice for the company. That 16 year old is eventually going to get discouraged and either get more education courtesy of the state, or move to a welfare to work program which doesn't count towards unemployment. My suspicion is that unemployment and underemployment are very high right now and will be for the forseeable future. And dropping out of the search for work is just a way for the government to avoid having to count them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErnstBlofeld Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 The numbers have gone down to 9.4% because some people have stopped looking for work. There are still 14 million people who are out of work.It would probably take 5-10 years of sustained growth to gain back all the jobs lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanguine Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 The numbers have gone down to 9.4% because some people have stopped looking for work. There are still 14 million people who are out of work.It would probably take 5-10 years of sustained growth to gain back all the jobs lost. Yes, and IBD does a good job of laying the numbers out: IBD Editorials Jobs: The White House will spin the lower unemployment rate as a great triumph, but it's because people are giving up. The time to get the federal behemoth off the backs of job-creators is now. There are lies, damned lies and government unemployment statistics. Friday's drop in the jobless rate — to 9.4% from 9.8% — reflects the last point. http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/559258/201101071926/Spinning-The-Data.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErnstBlofeld Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 The numbers have gone down to 9.4% because some people have stopped looking for work. There are still 14 million people who are out of work.It would probably take 5-10 years of sustained growth to gain back all the jobs lost. Yes, and IBD does a good job of laying the numbers out: IBD Editorials Jobs: The White House will spin the lower unemployment rate as a great triumph, but it's because people are giving up. The time to get the federal behemoth off the backs of job-creators is now. I do not read IBD. I read Forbes news. There are lies, damned lies and government unemployment statistics. Friday's drop in the jobless rate — to 9.4% from 9.8% — reflects the last point. http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/559258/201101071926/Spinning-The-Data.aspx I do not read IBD too much. I read Forbes news or Marketwatch which says the same thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErnstBlofeld Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evad Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Polly: Good luck. I hope 2011 is a better year for all of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pollyannaish Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Polly: Good luck. I hope 2011 is a better year for all of us. Me too! It's been an interesting year for all of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceRimmer Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 I'll be curious to see if these numbers hold when January's unemployment numbers come out next month. You can bet dollars to donuts that a lot of these "new" jobs were temporary part-time hires for the Christmas season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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