Unemployment rates fall in 39 US states last month

[DonViejo]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unemployment rates fell in four-fifths of US states in December and rose in just two, though most of the improvement stemmed from unemployed Americans giving up on their job searches.

The Labor Department says that employers in 30 states added jobs, the fewest to report gains since August. Nineteen states reported job losses.

Nationwide, employers added just 74,000 jobs last month, the fewest in three years and much lower than the average of 214,000 in the previous four months. Economists attributed some of the slowdown to cold weather.

The unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent, the lowest in more than five years. But the decline occurred mostly because more people stopped looking for work. The government only counts people as unemployed if they are actively looking for work.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/01/28/unemployment_rates_fall_in_39_us_states_last_month/

[djean111]

1. But the decline occurred mostly because more people stopped looking for work.

But the decline occurred mostly because more people stopped looking for work.
But the decline occurred mostly because more people stopped looking for work.

And Nationwide, employers added just 74,000 jobs last month, the fewest in three years and much lower than the average of 214,000 in the previous four months.

Hysterically funny, the difference between the headline and what really is going on.

[adirondacker]

2. It's proof that the extended unemployment cuts are Working!

[Igel]

4. Not great implications there.

Unemployment benefits =/= counted as unemployed.

You get counted as unemployed if you think you're unemployed and are looking for work. Some still think that only those receiving benefits are somehow counted as unemployed. It's an unfounded idea that's been hard to quash.

But one administration official interviewed on NPR said that one of his main reasons for wanting federal extended unemployment benefits continued was to "keep people connected to the job market" and to keep them looking for work. Which only makes for a coherent and cohesive converstation if you assume that the reason people apply for jobs is to meet the precondition of receiving benefits--not actually finding a job. Or maybe the speaker was being disengenuous and hyperbolic, not actually believing what he was saying but experiencing a sudden and pressing need to find some justification for his talking point that didn't sound repetitive or setting himself up as a target.

I guess in extreme cases of discouragement it might be the motivation. But "extreme cases" wouldn't normally be considered the target of a "main reason." I'd find it interesting if there was research showing that a primary reason some large-ish cohort of people actually continued to look for work was to continue receiving benefits.

[JDPriestly]

3. How does exhaustion of unemployment benefits affect the statistics, the count of unemployed?

Does numbers receiving unemployment benefits affect that count at all?

Or is the number of unemployed dependent on self-reporting?

[sweetapogee]

5. My company

is fairly busy right now. I'm the sales manager and I'm being asked if I feel comfortable putting out the help wanted sign. To be honest, I'm not comfortable with it at all and would prefer to take up the slack with giving overtime to existing workers.