MSNBC: Jobless Rate Drops to Lowest Level in Almost Three Years

[flpoljunkie]

Last edited Fri Feb 3, 2012, 10:31 AM - Edit history (1)

MSNBC's Morning Joe: 'A Blowout Jobs Number!' 100,000 jobs above the expected number. Just now reported on MSNBC. The net jobs number is 243,000--private sector jobs created minus public sector jobs lost.

Jobless rate drops to lowest level in almost three years

The U.S. economy created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate dropped to a near three-year low, offering a hopeful sign for hiring in the year ahead.

Employers added a net 243,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported Friday -- that's the most since April and far better than economists' expectations for a gain of only 150,000.

“It’s a strong number, a very strong number, I would say,” said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist at Wells Fargo Bank. “It’s consistent with the broad improvement in the U.S. economic data, but I think the extent of strength in today's report is somewhat of a surprise, and this is a good sign for the U.S. employment market and the U.S. economy.”

The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent in January from 8.5 percent in the prior month. The rate has dropped 0.8 percentage point since August and is now at its lowest level in nearly three years.

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/03/10309295-jobless-rate-drops-to-lowest-level-in-almost-three-years

[babylonsister]

1. The man delivering this news seems excited, while

the morning schmo crew are trying to find the black cloud; typical.

[flpoljunkie]

11. He's not the only one unhappy about this news. Poor 'Richie Rich' Romney!

[still_one]

27. The CNBS crew are asses. You want fairly balanced news and business watch Bloomberg

[ieoeja]

51. I have never understood why anyone would want "balanced" news.

I would prefer 100% accurate news. I realize that is unachievable. But I certainly do not want a 50-50 balance between accurate and inaccurate.

Nothing against you, but "balanced news" is a phrase that really needs to die of mockery. I'm sure you agree.

[still_one]

59. The news itself should be accurate, and it is on Bloomberg, however, there are various opinions

about that news. Bloomberg tries to provide all sides an opportunity to hear their side for those stories, such as should the 2% be taxed at a higher rate

[stlsaxman]

75. or better still- read The Economist.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2012/02/americas-jobs-report

[fasttense]

104. In January the number of employed people jumped 631,000, after adjusting for new population estimate

That quote is directly from your link. What new population estimate are they referring to?

It's difficult to understand all the charts they place at the bottom of the news release to explain the new population estimates.

So I went for a real simple explanation. I looked up Labor Force Participation Rate for the last 16 years. Here is a link http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000

It has continually declined since the last half of 2008. It has gone from 66.8% at its highest to 63.7% its lowest for January 2012. That's not so bad right? It's only a 3.1% decline. But as this site explains (thanks to just1voice for posting the link below)http://seekingalpha.com/article/337991-why-u-s-unemployment-rate-is-12-1

"One way is to achieve a lower unemployment rate is to freeze job creation and layoffs today, and drop the participation rate to 60%. By the end of 2012, even with population growth at 1%, the official unemployment rate will be 3.55%, or literally full employment."

So, you could create absolutely NO JOBS and get to 3.% unemployment merely by adjusting the labor force participation rate.

[Firebrand Gary]

2. Roaring number of jobs added. Thats a net of 100,000+ jobs more than predicted.

WOOO HOOO

[99th_Monkey]

76. And that's with Mega-corps sitting on their hands

when it comes to hiring, as if to "punish" Obama for trying to create jobs and to
not allow Obama to take any credit for any new jobs.

Just think what we could do if Mega-corps got OFF their hands and started investing
in our future employment base.

[geckosfeet]

3. Blowout? Hyperbole much?

Good news no doubt. Blowout? Not in my book. I think I would need a .5% drop to consider it anywhere near blowout proportions.

Interested to hear what rMoney and the gingGrinch and the rest of the peanut gallery have to say about this.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/unemployment-rate-hits-83-pct-hiring-burst-15505052#.TyvjU8VSSLk

The unemployment rate fell for the fifth straight month after a surge of January hiring, a promising shift in the nation's outlook for job growth.

The Labor Department says employers added 243,000 jobs in January, the most in nine months. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent from 8.5 percent in December. That's the lowest in nearly three years.

Employers have added an average of 201,000 jobs per month in the past three months. That's 50,000 more jobs per month than the economy averaged in each month last year.

The January jobs report was filled with other encouraging data and revisions. Hiring was widespread across many high-paying industries. Pay increased. And the economy added 200,000 more jobs in 2011 than first thought.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46250286
U.S. stock index futures surged following a monthly government employment report that blew past estimates.

on edit: added excerpts and links

The economy created 243,000 new positions in January, according to a government report, the largest increase since April 2011. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate slipped to 8.3 percent. Both figures were well above expectations. A Reuters survey showed economists expected a gain of 150,000 jobs and a steady unemployment rate of 8.5 percent.

A survey of small businesses showed hiring remained flat in January, while openings for hard-to-fill jobs increased slightly.

[banned from Kos]

14. technically not close to a blowout of course

but Animal Spirits is a term I have not heard in a long time.

and if we do - Dems win.

[INdemo]

4. Then what the hell was Trump talking about claiming unemployment had

increased to 9.2%..in his little speech about how great Romney was he said he had first line info that unemploment was up

[Jackpine Radical]

10. The Republicans inhabit an alternate universe--

It was created about 6,000 years ago just for them. It's flat and has a very stable climate.

But the unemployment there is very bad, except in alternate-Wisconsin, where Scott Walker's far-sighted economic policies have brought about full employment.

[bathroommonkey76]

58. Trump mentioned the CBO had predicted that in January.

I'm not sure if he was talking about this year or next year.

Would like a link if anyone has one....

[INdemo]

95. Maybe he was talking about Jan '08

..from what I've seen today on the corporatate networks..Repukes are stumbling all over the place trying to come up with something to counter the good news...This is fun watching these idiots crumble...This election could be over before the Repuke nomincation is official and we can then concentrate on our Congression candidate..nice thought anyway..

[HughBeaumont]

5. Lowest unemployment rate since February 2009.

Miraculous considering that President Obama was handed the worst economic debacle in 75 years. Turning around a catastrophe takes time. January is characteristically a weak job creation month too. Damn.

[Nye Bevan]

6. Excellent news. nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. Payroll employment rises 243,000 in January; unemployment rate decreases to 8.3%

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- JANUARY 2012


Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the
unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today. Job growth was widespread in the private
sector, with large employment gains in professional and business
services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing. Government
employment changed little over the month.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Changes to The Employment Situation Data
|
|Establishment survey data have been revised as a result of the
|annual benchmarking process and the updating of seasonal
|adjustment factors. Also, household survey data for January 2012
|reflect updated population estimates. See the notes at the end of
|the news release for more information about these changes.
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point in January to
8.3 percent; the rate has fallen by 0.8 point since August. (See table
A-1.) The number of unemployed persons declined to 12.8 million in
January. (See the note and tables B and C for information about annual
population adjustments to the household survey estimates.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men
(7.7 percent) and blacks (13.6 percent) declined in January. The
unemployment rates for adult women (7.7 percent), teenagers (23.2
percent), whites (7.4 percent), and Hispanics (10.5 percent) were
little changed. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.7 percent, not
seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

In January, the number of job losers and persons who completed
temporary jobs fell to 7.3 million. The number of long-term unemployed
(those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 5.5 million
and accounted for 42.9 percent of the unemployed. (See tables A-11 and
A-12.)

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Monthly Employment Reports

The large print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.

A DU'er pointed out several months ago that, if I'm going to post the link to the press release, I should include the link to all the tables that provide additional ways of examining the data. Specifically, I should post a link to "Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization." Table A-15 includes those who are not considered unemployed, on the grounds that they have become discouraged about the prospects of finding a job and have given up looking. Here are those links.

Employment Situation

Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization

From the February 10, 2011, "DOL Newsletter":

Take Three

Secretary Solis answers three questions about how the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates unemployment rates.

How does BLS determine the unemployment rate and the number of jobs that were added each month?

BLS uses two different surveys to get these numbers. The "household survey," or http://www.bls.gov/cps/, "Current Population Survey (CPS)," involves asking people, from about 60,000 households, a series of questions to assess each person in the household's activities including work and searching for work. Their responses give us the unemployment rate. The "establishment survey," or http://www.bls.gov/ces/, "Current Employment Statistics (CES)," surveys 140,000 employers about how many people they have on their payrolls. These results determine the number of jobs being added or lost.

== == ==

http://www.bls.gov/bls/newsrels.htm#OEUS
Monthly Employment Reports

The large print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.

A DU'er pointed out several months ago that, if I'm going to post the link to the press release, I should include the link to all the tables that provide additional ways of examining the data. Specifically, I should post a link to "Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization." Table A-15 includes those who are not considered unemployed, on the grounds that they have become discouraged about the prospects of finding a job and have given up looking. Here are those links.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.toc.htm
Employment Situation

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm
Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization

From the February 10, 2011, "DOL Newsletter":

Take Three

Secretary Solis answers three questions about how the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates unemployment rates.

How does BLS determine the unemployment rate and the number of jobs that were added each month?

BLS uses two different surveys to get these numbers. The "household survey," or Current Population Survey (CPS), involves asking people, from about 60,000 households, a series of questions to assess each person in the household's activities including work and searching for work. Their responses give us the unemployment rate. The "establishment survey," or Current Employment Statistics (CES), surveys 140,000 employers about how many people they have on their payrolls. These results determine the number of jobs being added or lost.

[CAPHAVOC]

19. Where can I get that recipe?

There are no jobs around here. I have been laid off for 8 months and no work in sight.

[dmallind]

49. Except the fine point giveth too - just not so much. U6 down .1% nt

[Tx4obama]

8. Everyone else is reporting 243,000 jobs in January. Wonder why the difference in the number(?)

@BreakingNews Breaking News
US employers added 243,000 jobs in January,pushing down unemployment rate to 8.3% - AP
https://twitter.com/BreakingNews/status/165427163229724672

[sabbat hunter]

12. the numbers yesterday

came from ADP, but it seems that their numbers have been off a lot the past couple of years (in both directions)

It may be how they collect their data.

[flpoljunkie]

13. Perhaps it is the net number of jobs--private sector jobs gained minus government jobs lost.

[flpoljunkie]

16. It is the net number of jobs created--private sector jobs gained minus public sector jobs lost.

The private sector remained the engine of whatever gains the economy can produce. While state and local governments continued to lay off workers, private-sector employers added 257,000 payroll jobs in January.

The private sector remained the engine of whatever gains the economy can produce. While state and local governments continued to lay off workers, private-sector employers added 257,000 payroll jobs in January.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/business/economy/us-economy-added-243000-jobs-in-january-unemployment-rate-is-8-3.html?_r=1&hp

[CAPHAVOC]

26. We are close to full employment.

I think the number should be about 3%. The job universe has collapsed. All the jobs are in China and India. McClame was right when he said..."The Jobs are not coming back". Compared to the number of Jobs left, employment is way better than 8.3%. Cutting taxes on the Rich will no longer create growth. Higher energy prices might help raise shipping costs from China. We forgot to export our labor rules and environmental regulations along with our factories. This ain't workin. Hard to compete with 17 dollar a week salary and cheap shipping. They even built the new Bay Bridge in China and are shipping it in. The stock market will do great while we go down the tubes.

[jschurchin]

34. woah there cowboy

Aint no truth permitted in this thread. Let the sheeple celebrate.

[CAPHAVOC]

40. Sunday Paper Test

My Sunday Paper Employment Want Ads.... 80% smaller than it used to be. All the jobs are for Health Care.

[jschurchin]

45. Not all of them.

McDonalds and Burger King are hiring also. Dont be spreadiing no only healthcare jobs in this here all is well thread.

[CAPHAVOC]

46. I meant most of them.

There sure are not any good ones. Are there any good jobs where you are? Even for mediocre jobs here you have to have a Bachelors degree. The HR Depts. get so many online resumes the are afraid to open their email. BK will soon require one. Looks like the election will turn on the unemployed vote.

[jschurchin]

50. If you consider 10 bucks/hr and no benefits

Good, then yeah Cap, there are some. Personally, i dont consider those good jobs.
You know what though, lets not shit on this here all is great thead.
I do find it unbellivable that so many fellow Democrats are actually this stupid.

[CAPHAVOC]

54. True if ya want it to be true?

One of the rules I am trying to overcome.

[Steerpike]

67. yup...

a bachelors degree for a 30k a year position...and you better be under 40 years old and able to lift at least 50 pounds.

[Mopar151]

62. I interviewed this morning at a Chinese-owned company who is gradually "onshoring" in the US

Very precise printing machinery, and the Chinese job shops cannot consistently produce parts of the necessary quality

And there is lots of underemployment to make up as well.

[Scuba]

9. The economy under BHO might be worse for you Mr. Romney, but not for the 99%.

[Tx4obama]

15. Employers added 243,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department reported Friday ...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- American employers substantially stepped up their hiring in January, bringing the unemployment rate down for the fifth month in a row.

Employers added 243,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department reported Friday, marking a pick-up in hiring from December, when the economy added 203,000 jobs.

SNIP

http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/03/news/economy/jobs_report_unemployment/

[Roland99]

17. GREAT jobs number! BUT: Labor Force Participation Rate Tumbles To 30-Yr Low

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/record-12-million-people-fall-out-labor-force-one-month-labor-force-participation-rate-tumbles-

*that* ain't good.

We have a seriously large % of our working population not working and not looking for work.

Are we seeing extended families moving in together to save costs?

There's a societal change afoot, methinks.

[CAPHAVOC]

21. You got it.

People are going to have to team up and pool resources to survive. The numbers are good for PR advertising only. Or it may be an excuse to cut benefits. If they can get the number low enough they can cut people off.

[joshcryer]

83. *Every year* will be a new record in labor force dropouts.

The baby boomers are retiring.

[Javaman]

18. Well, that's good news. nt

[flpoljunkie]

20. No matter how you slice it. It's good news.

[JoePhilly]

22. Its going to be fun watching folks claim this is actually bad news.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

23. Which "Obama Bad" meme will prevail this time?

[jpak]

25. Obama loses war on Christmas

yup

[CAPHAVOC]

31. I doubt there is much Obama can do about this mess.

The fallacy that this is Obamas fault is absurd. I only realized it after taking classes on critical thinking and ethics.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

33. You know who's gotta be most upset about this news: Donald Chump!

A day after he endorsed Mr. "Obama made the economy worse," these numbers come out.

They are BOTH losers!!

[CAPHAVOC]

44. The Chump lives in Romneyworld.

Barnum and Bailey would have trouble beating those two.

[JoePhilly]

32. Its hard to tell ... my guess is that the Manufactured Outrage Machine is currently ...

being retooled. This news clearly made it sputter.

Here are my two bets for today's "Obama Bad meme" ...

1) This will be dismissed with claims that THIS method of calculating UE rates is the wrong one ... and that some other, less positive indicator should be used.

OR ...

2) Some other totally unrelated manufactured outrage will suddenly pop up over and over ... in an attempt to distract attention from the good news.

[Safetykitten]

30. It's not news bad or good. The numbers are so cooked, it's not even based in reality.

[jschurchin]

36. Woah there kitten

Aint no truth tellin in this here all is well thread. Cut it out.

[Dreamer Tatum]

105. It's nowhere near as good as it looks.

The real rate of unemployment is around 15%, regardless of what they say.

[JoePhilly]

106. Except ... the number you want to use ...

isn't the one that the US has normally used for the last 20+ years.

I expect the Republicans to claim that the "normal" indicator isn't the right one when they don't like how it moves.

Its strange when Democrats do it.

[jpak]

24. But but but I thought unemployment was supposed to go UP after Xmas!!111

nevermind

yup

[brentspeak]

28. Numbers almost exactly the same as Dec 11 figures

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

[onehandle]

29. This is Fucking, Fucking, Fucking Bad News!...

For Captain Moneybags.

[flpoljunkie]

35. Love the pic of 'Richie Rich Romney!'

[CAPHAVOC]

47. He needs an Ascot.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

82. And a change of Depends.

[Tx4obama]

37. Awsome/hilarious tweet from Think Progress below ...

@thinkprogress ThinkProgress
Obama's job killing policies have created 3.3 million private sector jobs since 2010.
1 minute ago via TweetDeck
https://twitter.com/thinkprogress/status/165446727187435523

[Botany]

38. Damn that socialist

[Robbins]

39. Republicans

This Is bad news for them.Not only Is economy Improving.But,their talking point of Obama's policys making things worse get
blown up.If things continue like this the economy could see under 8 percent unemployment later this year.

This can help Obama keep Romney Unemployed.

[Safetykitten]

42. No, the economy is not improving. The news about it is improving.

The reality is all the people I know are still unemployed except one. He works in customer service now.

But let's keep talking about how good things are gettting. Our surprise will be official in November when the people without jobs vote.

[Robbins]

60. Well

You think voters are going to rush to Mr I don't care about the poor and I like firing people Romney? He Is one of those who has been
getting rich at expense of most of country.He IS spokesman of 1 percent vs the 99.

If this was Republican President the MSM would be prasing this.

[JonathanBrowne]

80. Lollll... Reallllly?

I love when people dismiss large scale stats in exchange for their own personal experience within their neighborhood.

Guess what, we live in an entire country.

Not every area is experiencing job growth at the same rate.

Lol reality is SO not determined by the status of you and your friends.

*shakes head*

[Botany]

43. Unemployment would be at 5% if the republicans had worked w/ Obama ....

.... "just a little."

Mitt might have to work on Obama's failed policies speech.

[tawadi]

41. Good news

Hope it is just the beginning.

[Arkana]

48. This doesn't augur well if you're Mitt Romney.

[Tx4obama]

52. Congressional Republicans on Jobs Numbers: Don’t Hit Send Yet!

Washington (CNN) – The better-than-expected jobs numbers caught congressional Republicans, as well as economists, off guard. They were poised to send out pre-written press releases about the 'disappointing' numbers. But some offices had to take time to adjust those email blasts, two congressional Republican sources told CNN, prompting a noticeable delay.

House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor emailed out statements 40 minutes after The Labor Department announced the unemployment rate had dipped to 8.3% and the economy had added 243,000 jobs. They normally send out emails almost immediately.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/03/congressional-republicans-on-jobs-numbers-dont-hit-send-yet/

LOL

[Roland99]

53. Record Surge In Part Time Workers

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/final-nail-todays-nfp-tragicomedy-record-surge-part-time-workers

It appears the record surge in people not in the labor force is not the only outlier in today's data. For the other one we go to the Household Data Survey (Table 9), and specifically the breakdown between Full Time and Part Time Workers. We won't spend too much time on it, as it is self-explanatory. In January, the number of Part Time workers rose by 699K, the most ever, from 27,040K to 27,739K, the third highest number in the history of this series. How about Full time jobs? They went from 113,765 to 113,845. An 80K increase. So the epic January number of 141.6 million employed, which rose by 847K at the headline level: only about 10 % of that was full time jobs. We can't wait for Mr. Liesman to explain how this number, too, is unadulterated hogwash, and how it too is explained away to confirm economic strength.

[CAPHAVOC]

56. Hawaii

I used to live there. Employers did not let you work full time to avoid the rules. Many had 2 or more part time jobs.

[Boombaby]

55. Poor Mitt

Oh that's right, I forgot. He's not concerned about anything poor.

[DCBob]

57. Great news! The GOPers must be in deep despair.

This blows their whole strategy for victory. Watch them pivot to some other issue like Iran.

[Kingofalldems]

61. Traitorous freepers not liking this one...

[Stellar]

63. K&R +++

[former9thward]

64. Why anyone thinks losing 1.2 million people from the labor force is good is beyond me.

1.2 million people left the labor force in one month! That is a record and the only reason the 'unemployment rate' dropped to 8.3%. A totally cooked number. A lot people really enjoy whistling past the graveyard.

[emilyg]

68. +1

[Change Happens]

72. Actually 250K people came back into the work force, what you are talking about was adjustment to the

overall real jobs numbers for the year, as in the number of people working as a % of the eligible population of workers!!! Again, all real numbers, real data...etc.

The good news is actually good news for real...They always go back and revise numbers, this revision was to reflect actual number of workers

Awesome news!!!!!!

[former9thward]

73. No the adjustment figures are even worse.

In December there were 132.9 million jobs. In January there were 130.4 million jobs. That is a loss of 2.5 million jobs in one month! They then "adjusted" the jobs figures by saying 2.7 million jobs were lost due to seasonal adjustment so the net gain was a a little over 230k jobs.

Those in the labor force increased from 153.9 to 154.4 million but those NOT in the labor force increased from 86.7 to 87.9 million. So labor force participation went down to 63.7% which is a 30 year low. NOT awesome news -- at least if you are part of the 99%.

[Skittles]

78. yup it is cooked, but I'll take the "good news" for now

if the momentum can be kept, perhaps we will see - and feel, REAL numbers

[CAPHAVOC]

86. Around here the momentum is down. No jobs.

I think they do not count the people who have been out of a job over 99 weeks.

[dmallind]

90. They count whoever is looking for work - how long for is irrelevant

The only two answers you need to be in this rate are "no" to "did you work" and "yes" to "did you look for work in the last 4 weeks"?

[jschurchin]

65. I think I found out whats going on here

A month ago, we joked when we said that for Obama to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he has to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55%. Looks like the good folks at the BLS heard us: it appears that the people not in the labor force exploded by an unprecedented record 1.2 million. No, that's not a typo: 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/record-12-million-people-fall-out-labor-force-one-month-labor-force-participation-rate-tumbles-

Then, after not much research, we find this,

Per Bloomberg: About 113k of NFP gain from “low wage jobs,” David Ader, strategist at CRT Capital Group, writes in note. Additionally, “we didn’t see the drop in courier and messengers as expected - but suspect we will." Moreover, ‘‘long-term stress remains at the U6 measure at 15.1% is still high, but likely falling due to people leaving labor force, and duration on unemployment remains over 40 weeks."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/nonfarm-payroll-surge-gain-low-wage-jobs

Remember when nitwit was President and we were told how the housing market was "contained", that 7% unemployment was "about as high as it's going", That TARP was to help homeowners? It was all bullshit then, and it didn't take much research to find the real story.
Go find the truth about this bullshit from BLS, and believe me, it's bullshit.

[bananas]

88. Thanks for tracking that down. nt

[CAPHAVOC]

96. Not in the labor force.

That is so sick. We are in big trouble. I am an old guy. I see the kids wondering WTF.

[KrazeeKrewe]

66. We need to do a better job on the employment rate.

Democrats have been in power for over 5 years now. We need to do a better job on the employment rate. It has fallen off the cliff since we won control of the country in 2006. If we want people to vote for us in 2012 we must improve their employment ratio.

[tabasco]

87. LOL!

They're spinning like tops around here!

[bhikkhu]

92. Another chart of the same data:

I suppose you would call it spin, but I'm inclined to think that there are many valuable roles in society other than "wage-earner". In a society where individuals are paid fairly for their work you wind up with a better quality of life, a richer culture, more options and opportunity, more happiness in general, and a slightly lower labor participation rate.

[Kahuna]

97. WTH??!!??

[just1voice]

69. LOL, and the Consumer Price Index also measures inflation (NOT)

Here's research on how many people are actually unemployed in the U.S. and how unemployment is measured. It'd be great if jobs were actually being created and people were finding jobs but MSNBC is just a propaganda machine and sadly your post is propaganda.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/337991-why-u-s-unemployment-rate-is-12-1

[fasttense]

102. Oh my, reducing the population rate really does hide the unemployment problem significantly.

Using 1990-2006 Population Rate Average (pre-crisis) of 66.56% the unemployment rate would now be ---- 12.1%

Wow, that is a big difference.

Also note that wages are NOT keeping pace with inflation. When wages start to rise by more than 3% then you know we are in a real recovery. But of course they are currently basically flat.

I hate it when they play with these numbers and try to tout a recovery when there is no recovery. It says to those suffering "All you unemployed who have given up looking for a job, see you don't even matter because our economy is improving with out you."

[bayareamike]

70. 243,000 is close to the 250k per month mark that

is needed to get the economy back on track in a reasonable amount of time. This is very good and encouraging news.

[DallasNE]

71. Headline Number Is Great

But there was additional good news as well. The prior two months were adjusted upwards by a combined 60,000 jobs meaning there were really 303,000 net jobs added plus the household survey showed solid improvement as well. I'm sure good weather helped this along but those are real paychecks being added with 50,000 of those in manufacturing.

[workinclasszero]

74. Rush Limpdick is beside himself in despair and fear!

Listened to the fat nazi on the way home and OMG he is scared shitless over this jobs report!

He is spinning like a top! I think the reich wing is sensing its DOOM approaching in the fall!

They will have either Richie Rich vulture capitalist who don't give a damn about the poor or Neutron Bomb Newt the serial adulterer who can't keep it in his pants as their candidate and if the economy comes back strong it will mean a MASSIVE LANDSLIDE for the prez and his party!

Those anti american teabaggers could claim ZERO credit if it does improve. They have done nothing but obstruct the president since day one, the slimeballs!

Limpballs is sooo scared its hilarious!

[flpoljunkie]

77. How delicious!

[CAPHAVOC]

85. You got it.

His arguments are becoming blatant fallacies. He will not be able to justify supporting the Buzzard. Even to his audience. The GOP is self-destructing. Blaming the Homeless is a loser.

[tech_smythe]

79. This is putting aside of course the TRUE number of unemployed...

people like me who have been unemployed but don't qualify for unemployment.
BTW I may be able to collect from my apple job, but that's up for some bean counter to decide now.

it drives me crazy, if you leave or are fired from a job for the "wrong reasons" you can be denied unemployment. it doesn't make you any less unemployed, and who the hell wants to live on unemployment or the dole?!

[CAPHAVOC]

81. It might be better to use raw numbers.

I prefer the raw truth. Not some cooked, and baked, massaged report. They may be cooking down the numbers in order to deny benefits. There are no more jobs around here. They are now domiciled in China for 17 bucks a day. That is the truth. Just because Obama is President does not mean he is responsible for this disaster. Who could do any better should be the question. Answer...nobody. Lets hope we do not send our agriculture tech. overseas along with our manufacturing edge.

[bhikkhu]

93. The rawest number might be "total employed"

...which is the total number of jobs held by people earning wages. In Table A-1 from the BLS its a few columns down:

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t01.htm

about 141 million, and growing more or less steadily (depending on how you feel about seasonal adjustments).

...then the other raw number after that might be to see whether those new jobs aren't crappy part-time jobs, which they always mention in the monthly summary:

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

where it notes the length of the average work week was unchanged for January. There's plenty of data in the BLS reports, useful for one thing or another. To some extent you are right that it can be plucked out and spun in any number of ways, but the total jobs is hard to spin, and I think more reliable as an indicator than some percentage of some selection, artificially made.

[CAPHAVOC]

94. Ah Dunno.

All I know is there are no jobs around here.

[tclambert]

100. People like something simple that they can say is a "good" number or a "bad" number.

Total employed at 141 million would have been great 5 years ago, but you have to add about a million a year to keep up with population growth. So 141 million would be terrible 5 years further in the future. With the percentages, you have a better chance of saying "10 percent is bad, 5 percent is good" and being close to right.

It seems to me, as tortured a statistic as U3 is, that at 5% we hit a tipping point where we see more job vacancies than people seeking employment. At that point, when employers have to compete for workers, wages go up and benefit packages get sweeter. At 10%, 6 potential workers apply for every job opening, and employers naturally try to squeeze them to see who is willing to work for the least.

This is a great trend, though, unless you're a Republican.

[tclambert]

101. Oh, and I hear that a lot of the job growth was in manufacturing.

Here in Michigan, they are beside themselves with joy over all the auto companies hiring tens of thousands--auto company jobs than would not have existed without the bailouts of GM and Chrysler.

[dmallind]

91. And it really doesn't make you less unemployed in the U3 either

The question of benefits is not even asked on these surveys. The stats are not even handled by the same government agency.

If you have looked for work - even once - in the last 4 weeks you are counted in the U3 whether you have applied for, been refused or exhausted your benefits. No connection at all at the federal level.

[Number23]

84. K&R!!

[workinclasszero]

89. Dow Jumps To A 4-Year High, Nasdaq Surges To An 11-Year High

Today was a huge day for the economy. U.S. companies added 243k jobs in January and the unemployment rate fell to 8.3%.

This fueled a major surge in the stock markets, which hit some major milestones.

http://www.businessinsider.com/dow-jumps-to-a-4-year-high-nasdaq-surges-to-an-11-year-high-2012-2

Well I guess the capitalist oinks on wall street thinks these numbers are correct, so Rush Limpballs and his zombie teabag army can go piss up a rope!

[deacon]

98. and if it wasn't for the party of "NO!" - it would be 5 or 6. n/t

[Al Rowden]

99. Success!!!

Awesome!!!! Welcome to the Obama recovery!!! See that, GOP? He did it...and without your help!!!!

[fasttense]

103. No recovery, merely a trend. 12.1% unemployed is the number.

If the Population Rate of workers (people in the workfoce) had not dropped, the unemployment rate would be 12.1%.

Now what these numbers tell me is that more and more people are getting out of the job market because they can't find a job. More jobs were NOT created, just more people dropped out of the workforce.

[greg2012]

107. The U.S. economy created jobs

A month ago, we joked when we said that for Obama to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he has to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55%. Looks like the good folks at the BLS heard us: it appears that the people not in the labor force exploded by an unprecedented record 1.2 million.

No, that's not a typo: 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month! So as the labor force increased from 153.9 million to 154.4 million, the non institutional population increased by 242.3 million meaning, those not in the labor force surged from 86.7 million to 87.9 million. Which means that the civilian labor force tumbled to a fresh 30 year low of 63.7% as the BLS is seriously planning on eliminating nearly half of the available labor pool from the unemployment calculation.

As for the quality of jobs, as withholding taxes roll over year over year, it can only mean that the US is replacing high paying FIRE jobs with low paying construction and manufacturing. So much for the improvement.
sciatic nerve