Jobless rate falls- yeah, right!

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

 

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:

 

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

 

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%.

 

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.

 

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

 

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:

 

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.

 

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."

 

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

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.

 

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

 

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

And its an election year.

Hmm...

HankD