Wowee! Jobs up 108,000! Bush job creation reaches flatline!

[rfranklin]

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. job growth slowed in December to 108,000 even as the unemployment rate fell to a cyclical low of 4.9%, the Labor Department said Friday.

Growth in nonfarm payrolls was less than the 205,000 expected by economists, but upward revisions to prior months totaling 99,000 put total payrolls near the expected level of 134.5 million.

November's net job growth was revised to 305,000 from 215,000 previously. It was the largest gain in more than a year.

Payrolls increased by 2 million in 2005. The unemployment rate fell by a half percentage point.

In December, average hourly wages increased 5 cents, or 0.3%, to $16.34. Average wages rose 3.1% in 2005.

Total hours worked in the economy fell 0.2% in December as the average workweek dropped to 33.7 hours....

(on edit--check this out) The civilian labor force declined by 30,000.
--more--

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B8EA76A78%2DDCCA%2D4EE9%2D9BF0%2D9AD9A6B37263%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=

[linazelle]

1. Pretty soon unemployment will be zero as all those unable to find

jobs fall off the rolls and cease to be counted. But hey, it's about the numbers right? :sarcasm:

[durablend]

2. I can just see the freepers jacking off right now over the news

[TahitiNut]

3. The Bush Regime found 126,000 MORE jobs created in November!

This employment release 'revised' the October (NOT seasonally-adjusted) total employment figures DOWNWARD by 26,000 jobs (so October wasn't so good) and the November figures upward by 100,000 jobs ... which 'revises' the November job growth UPWARD by 126,000 jobs.

Looks like a really easy way to 'create' job growth without actually creating jobs. :shrug:

[TahitiNut]

4. "The civilian labor force declined by 30,000."

Well, a lot of "undocumented workers" probably went home for Christmas. :evilgrin:

[TahitiNut]

5. Between Dec 2000 and Dec 2005, the number of jobs increased by 1.4%

Between Dec 2000 and Dec 2005, the number of jobs increased by 1.4% (1,880,000 people)

Golly. That's almost 0.3% per year ... 376,000 'new' jobs per year.

Let's compare that to the exact same period relative to the Clinton/Gore administration, shall we?
Between Dec 1992 and Dec 1997, the number of jobs increased by 13.6% (15,010,000 people)

Imagine that. :eyes:

[Nordmadr]

6. ...and in other news, the chocolate ration has been doubled. N/T