The media and our President would never hype a misleading report to prop up Obama’s image would they?
Job market conditions in the United States were flat in November, as Gallup’s Job Creation Index remained at +14, similar to the range seen since May. This is another indication that Friday’s sharp drop to 8.6% in the government’s U.S. unemployment rate may be overstated.
Gallup’s Job Creation Index generally has been flat since it hit +14 in May. Still, it is up three percentage points from a year ago and remains higher than the monthly readings Gallup found throughout 2009 and 2010.
The Job Creation Index of +14 is based on 32% of workers nationwide saying their employers are hiring and 18% saying their employers are letting workers go — the same as in October. Hiring was at 30% and firing at 19% in November 2010.
I suppose the media and the liberals just overlooked the fact that while we added 120k jobs in November, 315k workers gave up completely on finding a job. And that’s not even mentioning the seasonal jobs that were hired due to the holidays.
For months, the administration has been monkeying with the unemployment figures to hide some of the trauma Obama has inflicted on the U.S. economy, but last week’s shameful cooking of the jobs report took it to a whole new level. To hear the government tell it, our unemployment rate plummeted nearly half a point in just a month to a level of 8.6%. And it did this on the strength of 120 thousand new jobs.
Now, I hate to quibble, but for the entire length of the Bush administration, we were told every month that it takes 125 to 150 thousand new jobs just to keep the unemployment rate stable. Suddenly that kind of growth under Obama sends our UE rate spiraling downward. What gives?
Well, thanks to great work and aggressive tweeting by economist and commentator Jim Pethokoukis — formerly of Reuters — we know what gives. The universe of potential workers is now so small that it is hiding how weak the employment situation is in our nation.
Without getting too bogged down in the weeds of employment statistics, the U3 — or headline rate — is what is considered “the” unemployment rate. That is what was reported at 8.6 this week. The U6 rate combines unemployed and “underemployed” and is at 15.6%. That’s a great indicator, but the newsmaker is U3.
The U3 rate is the percentage of the “participating labor force” that is unemployed. That is all well and good, except that the Obama labor department has decided that it will simply manipulate the definition of “labor force” to suit its own needs. And what the Obama administration has done is simply shrink the definition of the “labor force” by pretending that hundreds of thousands of non-working adults are no longer in existence for all intents and purposes.
If you are offended that under ObamaCare you may be considered “a unit,” you should know that under Obama employment stats you may not even exist! In fact, a lot of non-working adults who existed in October apparently no longer do exist officially.
In other words, in the universe Obama took over from George W. Bush, the unemployment rate would still be over 11%.
And even with all the number fudging the media still overlooks the fact that we have had an 8% plus unemployment rate going on 34 straight months now. The longest streak since 1948.
Oh, but it’s all getting better now. I mean what better way to celebrate the artificial decline in unemployment by our President taking a 17 day vacation?
Sigh….
See author page
Lets see how many leftists post here about what good news this really is and how Republicans are trying to “spin” this negatively.
Did the Won say he was going to rest or not going to rest until America had millions more, of new high paying jobs? What happened to “Pass this bill” ? The do nothing Congress should remain in Washington to pass legislation while precedent ” I shall not rest ” wants 17 leisure days in Hawaii. If you folks do it right, next year, the Won can luxuriate on his own dime.
Even when Obama admits we have fewer people working than we did before (as the rate seems to go down, oddly) he plays the ”blame game.”
Remember his 1st year was spent blaming Bush for everything.
Then, after the 2010 election, Obama started to try to blame ATMs and robotics for HIS high unemployment numbers.
Now, even though he could simply lie and claim the numbers of unemployed are going down, Obama has a new scapegoat:
The Internet.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/12/06/obama_now_blames_the_internet_for_job_losses.html
How the right salivates at the prospect of this country not recovering from the recession. Why do you hate this country so?
Now Obama wants colleges and universities to turn down those with the highest scores in favor of diversity.
Guidance
Department of Justice and Department of Education Joint Guidance on the Voluntary Use of Race
The new guidance documents explains how educational institutions can lawfully pursue voluntary policies to achieve diversity or avoid racial isolation and how colleges and universities can further diversity in contexts including admissions, pipeline programs, recruitment and outreach, and mentoring, tutoring, retention, and support programs.
One example:
A school district could identify race-neutral criteria for admission to a school (e.g., minimum academic qualifications and talent in art) and then conduct a lottery for all qualified applicants rather than selecting only those students with the highest scores under the admission criteria, if doing so would help to achieve racial diversity or avoid racial isolation.
See the three PDFs for details.
Oh, Brave New World That has such people in’t! -Shakespeare, The Tempest
I guess the smart (but unlucky) kids can learn how to make barrels or something.
If the unemployment rate in just one state, according to a specific states statistics [not Federal statistics] is 9.6% [ or even 10%] how do you figure the overall unemployment rate is 8.6%?
I say ‘Not Federal’ Statistics because we ‘know’ [ The Gov’t ] is fudging the Numbers… The State(s) have more to loose by fudging Numbers to a lower [unemployment rate ] ….besides, they are not running for re-election in an economy where the Unemployment rate(s) have gone through the roof and there is no relief in sight… really angering a lot of Americans…
Case in Point:
Updated: November 22, 2011 8:30AM
The unemployment rate in Illinois edged up to double digits in September, reaching 10 percent—a level not seen since August 2010, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said Thursday.
http://www.suntimes.com/business/8320787-420/illinois-unemployment-rate-hits-double-digits.html
Anyone want to take a gander that Obama and his ilk think ‘we’ are >That Stupid<….??
@Liberalmann: Are you really as dense as you appear to be?
@anticsrocks:
Yes and hate filled as well.
Obama and his compliant media and Leftist economists act like an unemployment figure below 400,000 is really wonderful.
It is not.
(See graph 8 of the 15) This is a graph of the Initial Weekly Unemployment Claims 1971-2011
Where we are now, at just under 400,000 new claims is not that good compared with the past.
@Liberalmann: Liberalmann, you silly little wacho liberal. I fought for this country and love it with all my heart. Just because you have drunk the Kool Aid of 0-bama’s socialist agenda does not give you the corner on sanity. Wake up and realize that 0-bama has failed our country. Tell me about the economy, jobs, and the national debt since your unqualified boy was coronated by the MSM and assumed the mantle of President.
While I believe fishy statistical analysis is happening with the unemployment numbers this article does not say what part of the “participating labor force” the gov. labor department has omitted to make the numbers look better for this administration.
@RKaz: Google this – U6 unemployment statistics
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 13, 2012:
@Greg: But WHY were the unemployment numbers lower?
I am betting you can’t or won’t answer my question, Greg.