Jobless rate falls- yeah, right!

[Mexdeaf]

According to the latest figures the jobless rate went down and 200,000 were hired last month.

Pardon my skepticism, but after all it IS a presidential election year...

... plus, I don't really trust statistics when I see increasing numbers of people coming here to the church looking for help or food from our food bank.

 

[billwald]

How many of the jobs were Christmas sales jobs? What did they pay?

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

According to the latest figures the jobless rate went down and 200,000 were hired last month.

Pardon my skepticism, but after all it IS a presidential election year...

... plus, I don't really trust statistics when I see increasing numbers of people coming here to the church looking for help or food from our food bank.

Old saying "Figures lie & lier's figure"

I just got a e-mail from New Jersey's jobs (employment) group wanting to set me up with a job in Edmonton Canada....however I also must speak French. GENIUS! :laugh:

 

[Robert Snow]

There are plenty of jobs in the Houston area, if you are willing to actually work.

 

[targus]

When a person's unemployment compensation payments run out they are dropped from the labor force numbers and considered to be no longer "seeking employment".

It is an artifical drop in the calculated labor force numbers that makes the unemployment numbers go down.

The number of unemployed goes up and the unemployment rate goes down.

Neat trick huh?

The current U6 unemployment rate is about 17%.

 

[Oldtimer]

Unemployment reporting is just like calculating the inflation index.

Pick and choose which numbers to use to reflect what you want the results to indicate. (Omit selected foods and fuels from inflation reporting.)

In a few months wonder what the adjusted (whatever that means) rate will be for the figures just released. Strange there's little media coverage when there's a flip-flop between initial reports and final reports.

 

[Mexdeaf]

When a person's unemployment compensation payments run out they are dropped from the labor force numbers and considered to be no longer "seeking employment".

It is an artifical drop in the calculated labor force numbers that makes the unemployment numbers go down.

The number of unemployed goes up and the unemployment rate goes down.

Neat trick huh?

The current U6 unemployment rate is about 17%.

What's U6?

 

[Salty]

What's U6?

Hope this helps you a bit

 

[targus]

What's U6?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also calculates six alternate measures of unemployment, U1 through U6, that measure different aspects of unemployment.

U1: Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.

U2: Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.

U3: Official unemployment rate per the ILO definition occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively looked for work within the past four weeks.

U4: U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.

U5: U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.

U6: U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons (underemployment).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment

 

[Mexdeaf]

Hope this helps you a bit

Thanks- I especially appreciated the transcript. Going to have to read that site more often.

 

[Crabtownboy]

When I saw the new figures on TV my first thought was of the BB and those who would criticize the numbers. Now if the unemployment figures had been up those same people would be screaming about unemployment getting worse.

Some in the GOP are in touch with reality as opposed to wishful thinking or non-thinking by Obama haters:

GOP strategists acknowledged that an improved labor market could complicate their most potent argument against Obama. But they pointed out that at several points in the past couple of years, the economy has seemed poised for substantial growth and then stalled.

“We have to ask ourselves, now for the third time, do we have a sustainable recovery that is organic?” said Tony Fratto, a former aide to President George W. Bush and a partner at Hamilton Place Strategies, a D.C. consulting firm. “The public is skeptical of short-term economic data. It is going to take a longer period of recovery before people believe it is sustainable.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...-low/2012/01/06/gIQAWYj0fP_story.html?hpid=z1

 

[Bro. Curtis]

There are plenty of jobs in the Houston area, if you are willing to actually work.

Lucky you. Missoula, being a central hub in the Northwest, is always looking for truck drivers, mechanics, hotel workers....

But Targus is correct. The real unemployment rate is much higher than is being reported, and a Christmas season hiring boom won't change that.

And wait until the Obamacare tax hikes start.

 

[Mexdeaf]

When I saw the new figures on TV my first thought was of the BB and those who would criticize the numbers. Now if the unemployment figures had been up those same people would be screaming about unemployment getting worse.

Some in the GOP are in touch with reality as opposed to wishful thinking or non-thinking by Obama haters:

I don't know if you class me as a 'non-thinking Obama hater' but I'm just saying that what I see 'on the street' and hear from friends all around the country does not square with what the news is reporting.

 

[Robert Snow]

Lucky you. Missoula, being a central hub in the Northwest, is always looking for truck drivers, mechanics, hotel workers....

But Targus is correct. The real unemployment rate is much higher than is being reported, and a Christmas season hiring boom won't change that.

And wait until the Obamacare tax hikes start.

There are many machine shop jobs here because of the oil industry. Evidently, there is plenty of drilling going on.

 

[InTheLight]

When a person's unemployment compensation payments run out they are dropped from the labor force numbers and considered to be no longer "seeking employment".

It is an artifical drop in the calculated labor force numbers that makes the unemployment numbers go down.

The number of unemployed goes up and the unemployment rate goes down.

Neat trick huh?

I get how when an unemployed person's compensation payments run out would cause the official unemployment rate to drop but I don't see how actual unemployment increases. The person was unemployed when getting payments and unemployed when they run out. Why would actual unemployment go up?

 

[targus]

I get how when an unemployed person's compensation payments run out would cause the official unemployment rate to drop but I don't see how actual unemployment increases. The person was unemployed when getting payments and unemployed when they run out. Why would actual unemployment go up?

Good eye.

Reword that to "the number of unemployed stays the same but the unemployment rate goes down."

 

[righteousdude2]

It Isn't Falling in My Area of this Country!

According to the latest figures the jobless rate went down and 200,000 were hired last month.

Pardon my skepticism, but after all it IS a presidential election year...

... plus, I don't really trust statistics when I see increasing numbers of people coming here to the church looking for help or food from our food bank.

Your skepticism is validated by a ton of people I know through church and other social arenas in Southern California. There are people out here who are no longer collecting unemployment because they ran out of time and still couldn't find a job.

 

[Oldtimer]

More layoffs coming. 600+ here.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8493718

 

[HankD]

Gas prices are falling, Unemployment rate is falling, seniors get an SSA COLA for 2012.

And its an election year.

Hmm...

HankD

 

[Salty]

Gas prices are falling, Unemployment rate is falling, seniors get an SSA COLA for 2012.

And its an election year.

Hmm...

HankD

Actually gas just went (about $.08/gal) up the other day after about a one month drop.