Falling jobless figure deceptive

[missile_bender]

Baltimore Sun

The nation's unemployment rate dropped sharply to a 14-month low in December, but underlying that positive number was grim economic news - only a handful of new jobs were created and hundreds of thousands of discouraged people dropped out of the work force.

"It's frustrating, to say the least," said William Holland, a 50-year-old, laid-off steelworker in Baltimore who has been unemployed for nearly three years. "I don't give up. I am sending out resumes, I am on the Internet, I am trying every avenue."

Although unemployment fell to 5.7 percent in December, down from 5.9 percent in the prior month, only 1,000 jobs were created, a shockingly low number in a recovery, according to the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics. What's more, the work force, which typically grows when the economy advances, shrank as 309,000 people stopped looking for work.

--more

One more time, all together now: they are still looking for work, they just don't get unemployment benefits any more.

Now, the article notes, rightly, "Job growth is expected to be a key issue as November's presidential election nears, and President Bush could be vulnerable. The economy has lost about 2.3 million jobs since he took office, giving him the worst job creation record of any president since Herbert Hoover."

Don't think Rove and Co. don't know this. So the question is, what move will they make? Jobs. Hmmm. Well, since his buddies are the ones in positions to create them, why not create a bunch of new grants (homeland security, defense, you know), funnel the money to friendly companies and ask them to launch a bunch of temporary (but the workers won't know that) part-time jobs (no benefits) at slave (minimum) wages to raise the employment rate until after November, and then downsize? If they started in, say, June, that would give enough lift. Sure, it would cost the companies some money, but they could get it back in tax breaks.

If I was evil, that's what I would do.

Unembedded.com

[Marian]

1. But, more likely:

did you ever see "Soylent Green"?

[mhr]

2. The Steel Worker And Me

Officially, I have now been unemployed for 42 months.

You read that right.

The worst part of this situation is putting your life on hold for such a long period of time. Interminable limbo.

Like the steel worker I have sent and continue to send resumes: 1,430 to date and postings to 105 job boards.

Education and experience include: BSEE, MBA, Commercial Pilot, Honorably Discharged Naval Officer.

Like the steel worker, I have hope but wonder what the word means anymore.

The BFEE can use any ploy to convince the Sheeple that all is well. Those of us unemployed know better.

[kalian]

3. I'm sorry to hear that...42 months...geez....

and what ticks me off is that the repukes expect you to "retool"
and/or retrain. :eyes: I was told the same thing when I first became
unemployed (after being laid off from the IT sector).
My counter question was: "retool to what"? I just spent precious
time AND money to get certified and all the necessary training to
work in the IT field...but it appears that education now is like
a boxer short...use it once and then throw it away or something.

Yeah, that's it...retool and make the universities richer...

[mhr]

7. Kalian - Great Question

I have asked exactly the same thing.

Republicans seem to be lost in the early industrial revolution where interchangeability was the rage.

They treat workers as if we were machines to be simply recast in other roles.

Unfortunately, people are not machines and we have innate skills and abilities that are not easily rewired or molded anew.

When a republican asks that question, turn it on its head. Ask them what they would become if suddenly on the street?

[area51]

12. retraining

kalian mentioned:

"... and what ticks me off is that the repukes expect you to `retool´ and/or retrain."

Yes, I've heard that too from a well-off republinazi relative. One obvious answer is, with what money? Personally, I don't have the money to retrain; I used up most of my savings trying to stay afloat in a dying job market. You don't hear anything from this republinazi administration about funding retraining, not to mention a lot of the jobs they'd like to see (us unemployed pay for) retraining in are lower-paying jobs that will still further erode the tax base. Typical republinazi short-term thinking; they think they can run their BS wars & have tax giveaways to the ultra-rich while destroying the tax base, yet still run this country. It'll be interesting to hear if the IRS will be complaining this April & beyond about how much less revenue they're pulling in due to so many people being unemployed & underemployed. I agree w/Ilmart when they said:

"I have said from the start and will say again, Bush will be defeated mostly on his domestic record (jobs and the economy)."

Just like his dad, Bush will be defeated on lack of jobs/the economy.

[54anickel]

14. "With what money?" That's Shrubs Dislocated Worker Program

Applies to anyone victim of a mass layoff.
$1,000 for a one year or less program
$3,000 for a two year program

Technical college training.

Ha,

I've got certs and 4 yr computer science, pluse many tech schoool Advanced Tech Certificates that kept up with the ever changing IT industry.

But I can qualify for this re-tooling money if I change professions.
I've got my case worker trying to get approval for motorcycle maintenance correspondence training, since it's not offered locally.

Would I become a bike mechanic? Ya, I suppose if I had to. But I'm a biker, might as well get training that's related to my hobby as I don't see any other training offered at a tech school that interests me as a career.

[llmart]

5. You are not alone

I work in a library and people come in every day and tell me their tales of woe about how long they have been out of work. It's almost always more than one year. And many of them aren't even trying to look any more because they don't see anything else they can do. It's like the old needle in a haystack analogy - if there's no needle, what's the point in looking for it?

This past Monday was exceptionally busy because many people came in and wanted help filing their initial unemployment claim on the internet. I usually strike up conversations with these people so I can get a sense of their situations. Lots of these people work at smaller companies and of course, you're not going to hear an article about their layoffs in the nightly news.

I have said from the start and will say again, Bush will be defeated mostly on his domestic record (jobs and the economy).

[Skittles]

6. yes, mhr

I guess for me the suspicion that the numbers are cooked comes from these experiences:

1) some people I know who are unemployed cannot find jobs and they have been looking non-stop

2) some people I know took jobs they were way overqualified for - for less pay and terrible benefits.

3) too many people on the DU indicate there is still a problem

4) my job has become extremely stressful but I harbor no real illusions I could find other employment right now - all I have to do is talk to the people I know who are actively looking for work

I'm sick of this midadministration telling us everything is fine when we can simply look around and see that clearly everything is NOT FINE.
When a guy like you can't find a job - THERE IS A PROBLEM.

[Bronco69]

9. I've been unemployed for 36 months.

I know exactly how you feel. Maybe DU needs to start a job board. :-)

[Skittles]

4. I have a question

how do they KNOW people have stopped looking for work? What officially makes this true to the government???

[jmcgowanjm]

8. guessing: people stop getting unemployment/ or reporting to centersto

That means I would have become a discouraged worker
April 10, 2003

[Maeve]

10. Short question, long answer

this page will link you to a lot of pages that will give you some answers:
http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_faq.htm

If you go to the BLS homepage(http://www.bls.gov/cps/home.htm) you can find some interesting charts, too. Note the Employment/Population chart, for instance (click on the dinosaur icon for historical data) or the Civilian Labor Force Participation rate. Both are still trending downward.

Gee, I wonder if that is one reason there is an increase in young adults moving back in with Mom & Dad?

[Robbien]

11. It is the new buzz word

They are trying to hide the fact that the number of people who have no check is growing. So instead of calling this what the bureau calls this category, they are saying "discouraged". The actual bureau name is "People no long in the labor force".

The bureau actual numbers are:

Total civilian labor force dropped 309,000 people
Total unemployed dropped 255,000 people

Most of these people went into the next category

People not in the labor force increased by 538,000 people.

The 255,000 people dropping from the unemployed category would still have been collecting unemployment if Bush&Co had not dropped the federal extended benefit program in December.

[lovedems]

13. Wall Street vs. Main Street

When I hear all the "good news" coming from Wall Street it is how much corporate profits are up. So I think to myself, we are outsourcing all of these jobs not to bring the price down and allow the corporation to remain competitive (as Levi's try to point out) but to give the CEO's bigger bonuses so they can buy that yacht they have always dreamed about. That is why they need cheap labor in the united states, so the CEO's can have a bigger profit. What can I do for you Wall Street? How can I help you energy industry? Those must have been the first question * asked when he stole office. (Of course those were asked after, "how do we attack Iraq and get away with it?")

[Just Me]

15. Also deceptive because it fails to reflect underemployed & underpaid,...

I am a highly educated individual (with a Doctorate + some) who, after 30 months of unemployment (without compensation) has had to take a minimum-wage, no benefits, temporary job to feed myself and my son. There are many like me in this country. There is a very broad range of people in diverse circumstances who are not acknowledged in the bigger picture of U.S.A. reality.