8.1%

[bigtree]

Jobless rate drops to 8.1 percent, a 3-year low
‎
links:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/jobless_rate_drops_to_81_perce.html

http://www.cityam.com/latest-news/us-unemploymnet-rate-falls

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8b0853fa-95e6-11e1-9d9d-00144feab49a.html#axzz1tuBO4iL0

[malaise]

1. Great news

Rec

[safeinOhio]

2. After 2 weeks of being unemployed

I found a new, better job in April.

Numbers mean something when it is you.

[bigtree]

4. yes!

. . . you really feel the weight of the world when you're out of work and hunting for a job. You are definitely NOT a number!

Best wishes in your new job!

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Congrats!

My BIL has been out of work the past 6 months and a sister for the past month so the hope is that we have hit the bottom and are clawing back up.

[RockaFowler]

8. Such good news

My hubby was out of work for almost 2 years.

So happy he has a job now

[SidDithers]

3. K&R...

In b4 people stopped looking for work.

Sid

[Schema Thing]

9. meh, people just stopped...

.....doh!

[JoePhilly]

6. Pop Pop Pop!!! Hater heads exploding again.

[spanone]

7. and romney whines....fug the thugs

[Proud Liberal Dem]

17. "Things would be getting better...

if we didn't have Barack Obama as Presi.........oh wait a minute."


Republican logic: 8.1 UE>10.2 UE

[pinqy]

10. Bad news

The reason the UE rate dropped was because both total employment and unemployment dropped. The official Jobs numbers, which increased 115,000 are only non-farm payroll employment and are not used to calculate the UE rate. Total employment used for the UE rate includes agriculture and the self employed and unpaid family workers, and it dropped 169,000 Unemployment dropped 173,000. So since the numerator (Unemployed) dropped by a larger percent than the denominator (Employed + Unemployed) then the rate dropped.

[slackmaster]

11. Break out the Champagne!

[GusFring]

12. were employment numbers under Bush criticized this much?

And uts disgusting how Congress gets no blame at all. Not even from the media.

[slackmaster]

18. Yes, Bush took heat though the numbers were lower. Much criticism was aimed at their accuracy.

Just Google Bush jobless recovery.

Here's an example from DU2:

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x260637

And another:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x282552

And from a blog:

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009010209/another-bush-legacy-84-percent-more-unemployed

[KharmaTrain]

20. In '08 It Didn't Matter...

Unemployment stayed steady during the '04 campaign and was overshadowed by Iraq. The economy had rebounded from the 9/11 and dot com bust so the numbers actually were on the rise (and many people found fault with the numbers then as they do now).

In '08 boooosh was a lame duck and was almost invisible during that campaign as the economy headed down the rathole. McGoo distanced himself and we now see many of the same "conservatives" who had the Made In China yellow ribbons on their Hummers now claiming they never liked booooosh in the first place.

Congress definitely gets blame from the American people...if you believe their super low approval ratings, yet there's still that NIMBY factor where it's always someone elses' Congresscritter that's the problem. I'm hoping the focus is turned on the Congress and teabaggers in the months ahead and force them to stand on their records. A victory in November won't be complete unless Democrats not only hold the Senate but also retake the House.

[doc03]

13. I am curious what the unemployment numbers would be if

not for all the public job cuts in the red states.

[ProSense]

15. Krugman:

Notice that I said “government in America,” not “the federal government.” The federal government has been pursuing what amount to contractionary policies as the last vestiges of the Obama stimulus fade out, but the big cuts have come at the state and local level...We’re talking big numbers here. If government employment under Mr. Obama had grown at Reagan-era rates, 1.3 million more Americans would be working as schoolteachers, firefighters, police officers, etc., than are currently employed in such jobs.

And once you take the effects of public spending on private employment into account, a rough estimate is that the unemployment rate would be 1.5 percentage points lower than it is, or below 7 percent — significantly better than the Reagan economy at this stage.

More: http://sync.democraticunderground.com/1002385152

[GusFring]

16. I wonder how better things would be if Repubs in Congress weren't trying to topple the gov from within

[ProSense]

14. BLS:

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- APRIL 2012


Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 115,000 in April, and the unemployment
rate was little changed at 8.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services,
retail trade, and health care, but declined in transportation and warehousing.

<...>

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 115,000 in April. This increase
followed a gain of 154,000 in March and gains averaging 252,000 per month
for December to February. In April, employment rose in professional and
business services, retail trade, and health care. Transportation and
warehousing lost jobs over the month. (See table B-1.)

<...>

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised from
+240,000 to +259,000, and the change for March was revised from +120,000 to
+154,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Average for first four months of 2012 is 200,000 jobs per month.

[Fumesucker]

19. I helped with that number..

I applied for Social Security a few days ago so I'm no longer in the job market after several years unemployed.

The case worker told me that it was happening more and more now, people just giving up and getting SS as soon as they possibly could just to have some money coming in.

[brentspeak]

21. NYTimes: Rate dropped because more workers dropped out of labor force

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/05/business/economy/us-added-only-115000-jobs-in-april-rate-is-8-1.html?_r=1&hp

The unemployment rate ticked down to 8.1 percent in April, from 8.2 percent, but that was not because more unemployed workers found jobs; it was because workers dropped out of the labor force.

The share of working-age Americans who are in the labor force, meaning they are either working or actively looking for a job, is now at its lowest level since 1981 — when far fewer women were doing paid work. The share of men taking part in the labor force fell to 70 percent, the lowest number since the Labor Department began collecting these data in 1948.