US unemployment falls

[Gob]

Some good news for a change

The US unemployment rate, which has remained stubbornly high, dropped to 9% in October from 9.1% the month before.

The US added 80,000 new jobs in October, the Department of Labor said, less than had been forecast.

But the world's largest economy added 158,000 jobs in September, more than the original estimate of 103,000.

Sluggish growth and high unemployment are key issues for President Barack Obama and his Republican rivals as the country enters an election year.

In September, Mr Obama unveiled a $450bn (£282bn) package of spending plans aimed at creating jobs. But that plan has been held up in a much-divided Congress.

Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve cut its forecast for US growth and increased its expectation for unemployment next year.

The Fed anticipates unemployment falling only to 8.5%-8.7% next year. It had previously predicted a fall to 7.8%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15593984

[rubato]

The news is more neutral than good.

There are no indices which show unemployment falling in a sustained way.

yrs,
rubato

[dgs49]

Saying that unemployment "dropped" is absurd. The measure of unemployment is not precise enough to get the number within one tenth of one percent.

This is a rounding error.

[Gob]

Nice to see you welcoming good news Dave!

[dgs49]

I am currently employed, as is my wife, thus the unemployment rate in my world is zero. It has been as high as 50% in recent years.

I would like nothing better than to see a real trend toward reducing unemployment, but to anyone who is reading the newspapers, the opposite is true. The only significant initiative in the U.S. employment picture is the President's almost-hysterical promotion of his "jobs" bill, and it is obvious what drives his tenacity:

(1) He wants to be able to blame the Republicans for the continuing high enemployment during the Summer campaign next year, and

(2) He knows that if the Feds don't continue to pony up "stimulus" dollars, there will be massive layoffs of government employees around the country, as well as curtailment of construction projects, which will drive up unemployment even further.

No political party or "Leader" that I have heard has any clue about what Gub'mint can do to promote economic growth. The only sane proposal I've heard is a moratorium on new government regulations. But that is just an attempt to stop (one part of) the bleeding.

[Lord Jim]

Back at the CSB, I used to make a point of noting every time the unemployment rate dropped a tick, or there was any other glimmer of good economic news. (I figured somebody should try to counter Steve's relentless drumbeat of doom and gloom)

However, on unemployment, the fact is that over the past 2 years or so, it has fluctuated up and down between about 8.8 and 9.2 percent ...Sometimes steady, sometimes up a tick or two, sometimes down a tick or two....

And at the moment there's nothing to indicate that this pattern won't continue (the economy only created a net 80,000 jobs last month)

I'll start chilling the champagne when I see a sustained drop over at least 4-5 months and a rate heading south from 8.5....

[rubato]

The collapse happened in 2008, before Obama was elected or took office, and unemployment began to rise in response. The stimulus was effective, unemployment stopped rising, but it was too small and should have been repeated in 2010.

There is no reason to want back in power the party which created the collapse. Unless, like Al Qaeda, you want to destroy the US.



yrs,
rubato

[dgs49]

Is there a metahoric equivalent to "a broken record" in the age of ipod's?

[rubato]

Ignoring the central question does not make it go away.


Why would anyone support the party that caused the collapse and has failed to admit it? Who is still lying about it? Who are saying that they will do exactly the same thing again?


We can learn which policies will not work by looking at history. We can become a 3-world country by following the party who denies reality and ignores science.


yrs,
rubato

[Andrew D]

Is there a metahoric equivalent to "a broken record" in the age of ipod's?

Yes, there is.

It's called "Republican talking points."

[Gob]

The US unemployment rate dropped sharply to 8.6% in November, its lowest level in two-and-a-half years, from 9% the month before, official figures show.

The US economy added 120,000 new jobs in November, the Department of Labor said, in line with forecasts.

The number of jobs created in September and October was revised up by 72,000.

The US has struggled for many months with slow growth while the unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high.

One of the reasons for the sharp drop in the unemployment rate in November was the large number of people who gave up looking for work, and therefore were no longer counted as part of the workforce.

The report helped the US market to open higher, with the Dow Jones index climbing 0.8% in early trading.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16005502

[Liberty1]

Not totally unexpected at this time of year, but generally temp jobs. That and the fact that 315000 people left the workforce.

[Gob]

Nice to see an appreciation of good news

[Liberty1]

That's the point, it's not good news, it's skewed news.

[loCAtek]

...oh, wait.

[Gob]

The US economy created 243,000 jobs in January, the highest total for nine months, official figures show.

The rise was much more than expected. Analysts had forecast an increase of about 150,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3%, which was the lowest rate in nearly three years, and down from a revised rate of 8.5% in December.

News of the jobs growth boosted share prices, with the Dow Jones index rising almost 1% on opening.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index hit its highest level since July 2011 rising 1.8% while Germany's Dax closed up 1.6%. The Cac 40 in France was 1.5% higher.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16873788

[Liberty1]

Unfortunately, this number is skewed by all the people falling out of the labor force, 1.2M in fact this time alone. IOW, giving up. It is now at a point that has not been lower since 1984.






This is the largest absolute jump in 'Persons Not In Labor Force' on record...and biggest percentage jump in 30 years.

[Gob]

I was wondering how this would turn out to be bad news....

[Scooter]

Hey, somebody had to take over Steve's role since he doesn't post here....

[Liberty1]

Hey, I'm willing to listen to other points of view, as long as it's backed by facts.