Jobless Rate -4.9% /240, 000 jobs created

[DemocratSinceBirth]

President Obama has been a fantastic economic steward.

[JackInGreen]

1. How many of those

Pay a living wage?

[whatthehey]

2. Well that's a fungible definition but the median is $850/week, up 3.3% YOY

So presuming you believe $44200 is living, the answer is more than half of them and increasing.

[KentuckyWoman]

9. $850 a week is median? On what planet?

You are talking paychecks right?

They may be reporting that but I don't believe it for one second. $650 gross maybe but not $850.

[whatthehey]

14. Well either you are wrong or

there is a seamless watertight decades long conspiracy at the BLS involving hundreds of employees of all political persuasions, serving both D and R administrations, to mislead people about what they are getting paid, and in such a way that would likely breed more unrest rather than less. Because if they wanted to serve political expediency and were willing to outright lie as you suggest, the BLS would UNDERreport earnings, thereby making more people feel they were doing relatively ok.

I'm not buying option B.

[KentuckyWoman]

19. I am a semi-retired tax accountant.

I see the W-2s. With the exception of a few in high income areas, every tax accountant in this country and will tell you the median gross yearly income for people on PAYCHECKS is about $30000. This would not include the other forms of payment upper level workers get paid that can skew the median.

BLS and I are talking apples and oranges. If you feel better by all means use BLS to justify whatever you want. I'm just telling you that is not reality on the ground.

[whatthehey]

20. Accountants should understand median no?

It doesn't matter if CEO X gets paid nine figures, he only counts as a single person to calculate the median, so skewing at upper levels is immaterial. It's what medians are designed to eliminate. This is not a mean or mathematical average but the earnings of the person in the exact middle of all incomes listed in order.

Accountants I would hope are also numerate enough to understand the dangers of extrapolating from non-random samples, such as those choosing to use a given accoiuntant.

[Wednesdays]

22. Mean vs. median?

[KentuckyWoman]

25. Snort

While you are busy extrapolating, most Americans are trying to figure out how to avoid putting this week's groceries on the credit card. So go ahead, make assumptions about my professionalism or intelligence if that makes you feel better. It bothers me not. This isn't about me or what you think I do or do not understand. This is about real people who are hurting badly.

$44000 a year isn't big money these days but the reality on the ground is far worse.

[pinqy]

24. Here's how it works:

In the survey of 623,000 worksites, each location is asked the total number of employees, the total number of production/non-supervisory employees, and the number or female employees. They are also asked the total number of regular and overtime hours and the total payroll. The total payroll is divided by the number of regular hours and 1.5 times the number of overtime hours to get the average hourly earnings. Then the average weekly earnings are calculated.

[KentuckyWoman]

27. Thank you

I detest how they come up with figures. In my opinion it has never matched the reality in the real world since the beginning of time. Periodically they tweek what they do but it seems every time they just skew the numbers worse.

Thanks again for the post. It highlights how flawed the system is.

[pinqy]

34. What exactly do you disagree with?

I'm not sure what you think the flaws are or what you think would be a better method.

[Dawgs]

3. I'll give Obama credit for not losing jobs.

Not sure what he's done to create any.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. He has created nearly ten million new jobs.

Please feel free to verify my claim.

Thank you in advance.

[Dawgs]

5. Not up to me to "verify" YOUR "claim". n/t

I'll stick by what I said.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. And I'll stick by my allegation your unsubstantiated and biased observation is erroneous.

Not up to me to "verify" YOUR "claim" I'll stick by what I said.

And I'll stick by my allegation your unsubstantiated and biased observation is erroneous, ergo:

October was a month of strong jobs gains. Since President Obama took office, the economy has added 8.7 million jobs.
On many fronts, there's a lot to cheer. More people are getting back to work. Gas prices are extremely low. The stock market is back near its all-time highs. Home prices have rebounded in most parts of the country.
Even wages and consumer spending are finally starting to show signs of a pickup.
Unemployment is now down to 5% -- a healthy level that the U.S. hasn't seen since before the financial crisis of 2008

http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/06/news/economy/obama-jobs/

That was easy.


That article is from November. The economy has added hundreds of thousands of jobs since then.

[bhikkhu]

21. Here's the graph

[DemocratSinceBirth]

23. And we would be even better off if the GOP was just a tad bit more cooperative./nt

[KentuckyWoman]

7. Around here the fast food joints are offering hiring bonuses.

If an employee finds someone who lasts 90 days they get $300. Plus they are offering $9.25 to start.

No I'm not saying this is good money. Of course it's shit. But if the fast food joints are motivated to give anything at all it's because the labor market is getting tight.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Reducing unemployment puts pressure on wages.

Every economist from Hayek to Marx would agree with that observation. That's why Marx and Engels spoke of "the reserve army of labor" that keeps wages down.


Given the fact the Republicans have done everything to thwart President Obama's attempts to stimulate the economy he has done a Hell of a job.

[mcar]

10. He has indeed DSB

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. Why would someone who holds himself out as a Democrat suggest he hasn't created any jobs?

Does that not sound like something a Republican would suggest ?

[mcar]

12. I have an answer but will refrain from providing it

I'm sure you can understand why.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. Maybe the person is just misinformed.

Hanlon's Razor- Never attribute to malice that which can best be attributed to incompetence.

[mcar]

15. Could be

After seven years of reading similar remarks about our Democratic president, I have my doubts.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. I will make a nod to my better angels and give him the benefit of the doubt.

[mcar]

17. You are a kind and fair person

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. Thank you.

Barack Obama closed down two unwinnable wars and ended The Great Recession. That's a great first line of his presidential record.

[MrWendel]

26. Thats great news...

for Obama haters ... ... not so much.

[salinsky]

28. That's a pretty damn good jobs report ...

... although it's true that wage growth remains a problem.

Nearly every Democrat has voiced support for measures that would seek to mitigate the exploding income inequality gap.

Nearly every Republican has voiced opposition to any measure that would seek to mitigate the exploding income inequality gap.

Tell me again, how any Democrat can suggest that they will take their ball and go home if their preferred candidate is not the nominee??

[DemocratSinceBirth]

29. President Obama has been a damn good president...

The M E is in turmoil but that is the residue of GOP military adventurism and factors intrinsic to the region.

[salinsky]

30. I couldn't agree more ...

... history will look very, very kindly toward President Obama.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

31. I am still blown away by the suggestion ( here) that no jobs were created during his tenure.

[salinsky]

32. I've seen this denial of reality behavior often amongst rightwingers, ...

... it's new for me to see this behavior in so-called "Democrats".

But, I'm new to DU, so ....

[DemocratSinceBirth]

33. I have seen it argued it is better to plot political ideologies on a circle and not a plane.

[KamaAina]

35. Damn that Obama!

[napkinz]

36. Romney Can Fix It!

[pault420]

37. Zero percent interest rates do help though

Just saying.

I don't know when the last time anyone was able to preside in such a low interest rate environment. He's doing a decent job regardless.

One thing that we don't know though is the true unemployment rate, as when you stop looking for work or getting benefits your counted as employed. If you look at the workforce participation rate, historically it's near lows, so something doesn't add up.

Not a popular thing to say I'm sure but just looking at things objectively.