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Jobless rate continues to improve as nearly half a million return looking for work

LOL - you find the best cartoons

Jobless rate continues to improve, as nearly half a million resume looking for work.

The article explains how those "not counted" are indeed counted through different measures, for those that don't understand and simplistically want to say, "Yeah, but the REAL jobless rate is .... "

This is very good news for the economy. Get over it, Obama-haters who would rather see the President fail, than the country and your fellow citizens do well. This isn't about your dislike for Obama - it's about your country, and you, doing better in a still fragile world economy.

The Republicans in Congress still want to cut the minimum wage for workers, remove OSHA and EPA protections for workers, eliminate worker right to bargain, get rid of Social Security for retirees, and give tax breaks to the wealthy (all 4 GOP candidate plans) etc. Vote accordingly this fall.

Quote:

US adds 227,000 jobs in Feb.; jobless rate 8.3 pct

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer – 39 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States added 227,000 jobs in February in the latest display of the economic recovery's surprising breadth and brawn. The country has put together the strongest three months of pure job growth since the Great Recession.

The unemployment rate stayed at 8.3 percent. It was the first time in six months it didn't fall, and that was because a half-million Americans, perhaps finally seeing hope in the economy, started looking for work.

The Labor Department also said Friday that December and January, already two of the best months for jobs since the recession, were even stronger than first estimated. It added 41,000 jobs to its total for January and 20,000 for December.

Economists were expecting February job growth of 210,000.

"It's a very strong report," said Bob Baur, chief global economist at Principal Global Investors, an asset management company. "I could hardly find anything not to like in it."

Since the beginning of December, the country has added 734,000 jobs. The only three-month stretch that was better since the recession ended was March through May 2010, when the government was hiring tens of thousands of temporary workers for the census.

Stocks rose steadily through the morning. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 48 points to 12,956. Last week, it closed above 13,000 for the first time since May 2008, four months before the financial crisis.

The improving jobs picture figures to improve the re-election chances for President Barack Obama and to complicate the political strategy for the Republicans competing for the right to replace him.

Obama on Friday visited a manufacturing plant run by Rolls-Royce, a maker of aircraft engines, in Virginia, a state expected to be closely contested in November. He told workers there that American manufacturing is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s.

"The economy is getting stronger," the president said. "When I come to places like this and I see the work that's being done, it gives me confidence there are better days ahead. I would bet on American workers and American know-how any day of the week."

Mitt Romney, the leader in delegates among Obama's would-be challengers, did not directly address the fresh economic data at a stop in Mississippi, but he criticized Obama for failing to bring the unemployment rate below 8 percent.

The unemployment rate has remained above 8 percent since February 2009, a month after Obama's inauguration, a point regularly hammered by Romney. But as more jobs are created, it is increasingly likely that the rate will fall below 8 percent by Election Day.

Matt McDonald, a partner at Hamilton Place Strategies and former Bush White House official, calculates that the economy needs to add about 185,000 jobs per month to get to that point.

"It will be a photo finish to get below 8," he said.

Hiring in February was broad-based and improved in both high-paying and low-paying industries. Manufacturing, mining and professional services all added jobs.

And government — federal, state and local — cut only 6,000 jobs in February and a revised 1,000 in January. Last year, government cut an average of 22,000 jobs a month, taking some of the economic punch out of job creation in the private sector.

The private sector added 233,000 jobs in February.

In all, 142.1 million Americans reported that they had a job in February, the highest since January 2009, during the depths of the recession. Manufacturing payrolls are the highest since April 2009.

The government uses a survey of payrolls to determine how many jobs are added or lost each month. That is the survey that produced the 227,000 number. But the payroll survey tends to undercount small businesses and does not count the self-employed.

It uses a separate survey of American households to calculate the unemployment rate. That survey picks up hiring by companies of all sizes, including small businesses, companies being started, farm workers and the self-employed.

The household survey found that 428,000 more Americans reported having a job in February. When the economy is improving, many economists say, the household survey does the better job of picking that up because it detects small business hiring.

Over the past three months, the number of employed people has risen by 1.45 million, the biggest three-month gain since March 2000.

Normally the gain of 428,000 in February would lower the unemployment rate. But a long-awaited trend is emerging to offset: Unemployed people who had given up looking for a job have started looking again.

The work force consists of those with a job and those looking for one. If you don't have a job and aren't looking, you're not part of the work force, and the government doesn't count you as unemployed.

News that the economy is starting to perk up has caused many of those "discouraged workers" to start looking again. They're still unemployed, but they're back in the work force. The work force surged by 476,000 in February and almost 1 million the past two months.

The labor force participation rate, which measures how many adults are working or looking for work as a share of the adult population, rose in February for the first time since last August.

The rate came in at 63.9 percent, up from 63.7 in January, the lowest since 1983. It had fallen gradually for two years — even after the worst layoffs of the recession were finished, suggesting people were simply giving up looking for work.

A catchall measure of the unemployed and the so-called underemployed — people who are working part-time but would rather by working full-time — fell to 14.9 percent, the lowest the three years.

That figure includes three groups: the part-time workers who want full-time work, people who are unemployed and looking for work, and people who are unemployed and have stopped looking.

Other economic indicators have improved markedly in recent weeks. Consumer confidence in February was the highest in a year, and unemployment claims, the best measure of the pace of layoffs, have averaged 355,000 a week, near a four-year low.

The service sector, which accounts for most jobs in the United States, is expanding faster, according to a private survey this week. The industries of mining, educational services, transportation and warehousing are particularly strong.

Some companies have to hire because they can't squeeze any more work from their employees. Worker productivity rose last year at its slowest pace in a generation, suggesting companies will have to hire to meet growing demand.

Wages are still rising only modestly. Average hourly pay increased by 3 cents in February to $23.31. In the past year, it has gone up only 1.9 percent, trailing the rate of inflation.

The factors restraining the U.S. economy seem to be easing, or at least less damaging than they used to be. Greece has struck a deal to get an international bailout and avoid a default later this month that could have rattled the world financial system.

And while the price of gas has crept up almost every day for a month, and is the highest on record for this time of year, that has less of a bite when the economy is growing and people feel more confident.

Another strong month of hiring makes it less likely that the Federal Reserve will take additional steps to help the economy at its meeting next week.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects figure in paragraph about payroll survey to 227,000, not 277,000. Adds photos. With AP Photos.)

Stubbern Unemployment Rate No Help to Obama

http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/09/news....htm?hpt=hp_t1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antitrust32 (Post 844535)

Stubbern Unemployment Rate No Help to Obama

http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/09/news....htm?hpt=hp_t1

Yes, but those smart enough to look at the unemployment rate of those who had stopped looking for work and thus are excluded from being in the usual one unemployment rate - like all you guys who said so on this thread - know the above story about the unemployment rate being the same is great news for Obama, because you know why the unemployment rate has remained the same.

YOU know the spin in that story above. Because it's the same argument you guys just used here, that is disproven by the current months numbers posted in the AP story, and not reflected in the unemployment rate. Right?

Thanks for posting that! :)

College: the opposite of snobbery.

Quote:

Millionaire blue-blood George W. Bush pretended to be a down-home cowboy. Two-time divorcee and longtime Washington influence peddler Newt Gingrich struts around preaching about traditional family values and insisting he's a D.C. outsider. Now, topping them all is Rick Santorum, who recently declared that only "snobs" support efforts to make a college education more accessible to all Americans.

Santorum, of course, has not one, not two, but a whopping three separate degrees, two of which come from public universities — that is, two that were taxpayer-subsidized, courtesy of the "big government" Santorum now claims to loathe.

Hypocritical — and dare I say, snobbish — as it is for someone with such a pedigree to attack President Barack Obama's college-affordability initiatives, Santorum did inadvertently stumble into a significant question: Is higher education for everyone? The answer today is, not necessarily, but that's precisely because of the affordability problem Obama aims to solve.

Quote:

As the facts prove, though, the real crisis is about a conservative economic agenda whose anti-government extremism is making the path to a degree and a decent job even tougher than it naturally is during tough times.

Trying to make that path just a tad easier — like it was when Santorum got his three degrees — isn't snobbery. It's the opposite.

More at
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/o...ry-ar-1751578/

http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/...ces_spike.html

Obama's Approval Rating Dips Amid High Gas Prices
Romney and Santorum, meanwhile, pull even with the president in head-to-head matchups.
By Rachael Levy | Posted Monday, March 12, 2012, at 12:32 PM ET

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigrun (Post 844608)

College: the opposite of snobbery.

More at
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/o...ry-ar-1751578/

He forgot to put in that Obama claimed he was more than just community organizer . ;)

Virginia's jobless rate falls to a three-year low.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/busine...-y-ar-1763567/

The American stock markets soared to new heights on 3-13-2012 after J.P. Morgan Chase passed a critical Federal Reserve 'stress test'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGq0g...eature=related

I heard Fannie and Freddie were due for a stress test.

Both called in sick and now won't take calls. Someone might want to check if it's time to pull the plug?

Great news with the stock market back to where it was, unemployment on its way back to 5-6% (not really but hey) and the country in debt $6 trillion more.

I presume you pay taxes and when divided up that $6 trillion comes to $40,000 per taxpayer.

So now where's the great news?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dellinger63 (Post 845718)

the Capitals came back twice from 3 point deficits and got a crucial two points last night.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dellinger63 (Post 845718)

So now where's the great news?

I don't pay taxes...:D

And send the death panel to Freddy and Fanny...or just send Palin and her moose gun...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigrun (Post 845722)

I don't pay taxes...:D...

I'm sure you firmly support no taxation without representation.

What about representation without taxation? ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dellinger63 (Post 845724)

I'm sure you firmly support no taxation without representation.

What about representation without taxation? ;)

I firmly support taxing the rich...and leave us poor fkrs alone...:tro:

and no lifetime pensions for members of congress...their pockets are full anyway....SS and medicare for them....:tro::tro:

This thread is funny.

8.2%.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antitrust32 (Post 844133)

From Coach's link and oh so true. Funny and sad.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articl...mployment-rate

COSTELLO: I want to talk about the unemployment rate in America.

ABBOTT: Good Subject. Terrible Times. It's about 8 percent.

COSTELLO: That many people are out of work?

ABBOTT: No, that's 16 percent.

COSTELLO: You just said 8 percent.

ABBOTT: 8 percent unemployed.

[Check out the U.S. News Economic Intelligence blog.]

COSTELLO: Right 8 percent out of work.

ABBOTT: No, that's 16 percent.

COSTELLO: Okay, so it's 16 percent unemployed.

ABBOTT: No, that's around 8 percent...

COSTELLO: Waits a minute. Is it 8 percent or 16 percent?

ABBOTT: 8 percent are unemployed. 16 percent are out of work.

COSTELLO: If you are out of work aren't you unemployed?

ABBOTT: No, you can't count the "Out of Work" as unemployed. You have to look for work to be unemployed.

[See a slide show of Mort Zuckerman's 5 Ways to Create More Jobs.]

COSTELLO: But they are out of work!!!

ABBOTT: No, you miss my point.

COSTELLO: What point?

ABBOTT: Someone who doesn't look for work, can't be counted with those who look for work. It wouldn't be fair.

COSTELLO: To who?

ABBOTT: The unemployed.

COSTELLO: But they are all out of work.

ABBOTT:No, the unemployed are actively looking for work ... Those who are out of work stopped looking. They gave up. And, if you give up, you are no longer in the ranks of the unemployed.

COSTELLO: So if you're off the unemployment roles, that would count as less unemployment?

[See the 10 best cities to find a job.]

ABBOTT: Unemployment would go down. Absolutely!

COSTELLO: The unemployment just goes down because you don't look for work?

ABBOTT:

Absolutely it goes down. That's how you get to 8 percent. Otherwise it would be 16 percent. You don't want to read about 16 percent unemployment do ya?

COSTELLO: That would be frightening.

ABBOTT: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Wait, I got a question for you. That means ther're two ways to bring down the unemployment number?

ABBOTT: Two ways is correct.

COSTELLO: Unemployment can go down if someone gets a job?

[See the 10 worst cities to find a job.]

ABBOTT:Correct.

COSTELLO:And unemployment can also go down if you stop looking for a job?

ABBOTT: Bingo.

COSTELLO: So there are two ways to bring unemployment down, and the easier of the two is to just stop looking for work.

ABBOTT: Now you're thinking like an economist.

COSTELLO: I don't even know what the hell I just said!

:tro::tro::tro: Winner

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/...atest_redirect

The Nonfarm Payrolls Report of Doom
By Matthew Yglesias
| Posted Friday, June 1, 2012, at 9:01 AM ET

The latest jobs report is a total disaster. We got 69,000 new jobs in May which is well below already tepid expectations and is below the labor force trend growth rate. Terrible.

But it gets worse!

“The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for March was revised from +154,000 to +143,000, and the change for April was revised from +115,000 to +77,000.” In other words, we gained 69,000 new jobs in May (estimated) but lost 49,000 in revisions. That leaves us with a net increase in employment of just 20,000. Disaster disaster disaster.