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 jobs reportJobless Rate Falls to 7.8%, Lowest Since January 2009 By SHAILA DEWAN The nation’s unemployment rate dropped below 8 percent in September to its lowest rate since the month President Obama took office, the Labor Department said Friday. While employers added only a modest 114,000 jobs last month, the jobless rate declined to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent, even though more people entered the labor force. Adding to the positive news, job gains were revised upward by 40,000 for July (to 181,000) and by 46,000 for August (to 142,000), which had been considered a disappointing month, casting a slightly rosier hue on the summer slowdown. The private sector, which has been adding jobs since March 2010, grew by 104,000 workers in September. Governments, where cuts have been a drag on the recovery, added 10,000 jobs. Manufacturing, one of the bright spots that Mr. Obama has showcased throughout the re-election campaign, fell 16,000 jobs after losing a revised 22,000 in August, and construction jobs grew by 5,000. The number of temporary jobs, usually considered a harbinger of future growth, fell 2,000. Coming a month before the presidential election, the lower jobless rate was a clear gain for the incumbent. But it also allowed Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential challenger, to repeat his critcism that the recovery is too slow. “This is not what a real recovery looks like,” Mr. Romney said in a statement. “We created fewer jobs in September than in August, and fewer jobs in August than in July, and we’ve lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office.” Representative Kevin Brady, a Republican from Texas and vice chairman of the joint economic committee, said the drop in the unemployment rate “was driven primarily by an increase of 582,000 in the number of workers employed involuntarily in part-time jobs. These workers need and want full-time jobs.” “If not for all the people who have simply dropped out of the labor force,” Mr. Romney said in his statement, “the real unemployment rate would be closer to 11 percent.” Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the majority leader, conceded that numbers were an improvement but added, “it simply isn’t good enough.” A jobless rate of 7.8 percent “should not be cause for celebration.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat from Nevada, countered that “with unemployment dropping below 8 percent to the lowest level in four years, our economy is on the right track.” In Virginia on Friday, Mr. Obama said that “this country has come too far to turn back.” It was the 24th straight month of overall job growth after a severe financial crisis. Consumers and businesses, too, seem to have divergent views of the economic situation. Consumers have shown increasing confidence as stocks rise and home prices stabilize. Business leaders have been hanging back, though, more focused on global economic slowing and domestic concerns. They say they are uncertain what the election will mean for the business climate and are waiting in part for a resolution of the so-called fiscal cliff, a host of tax increases and budget cuts that will be triggered at the end of the year if Congress fails to act. Harry Kazazian, the chief executive officer of Exxel Outdoors, a maker of camping equipment in Alabama, said the election, the fiscal cliff and rapidly shifting regulations had put him in a cautious mood. With sales on the rise, Exxel has restarted a capital investment plan that it suspended three years ago, but is doing so slowly. “We’re moving forward, but we’re doing it in steps rather than being much more aggressive and putting ourselves out there,” Mr. Kazazian said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if things start turning the other way, meaning down.” But at a Walmart in Atlanta, shoppers were loosening the reins a bit, buying what they described as small indulgences like scented candle oil and seasonal beer. Linda Avery, 50, a food service manager, said her income had not changed but her daughter had moved out of the house, reducing her food and utility expenses. Michael Peacock, 43, said that although his house was in foreclosure, his chosen field, online marketing, was improving to the point where he could even turn down some jobs that were outside his specialty. “I can see people shopping,” Ms. Avery said, surveying the store. “You just feel like things are getting a little better.” The polling firm Gallup pinpointed September’s rise in consumer confidence to the first day of the Democratic National Convention, and said it was almost entirely because of increased optimism among Democrats, while confidence among Republicans held steady at low levels. But Gallup could not say whether politics or improving economic conditions drove the change. |
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chaz |
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Chaz Jeff how is this good for Obama if the job market is predicted to grow anyway? I mean wasnt this predicted to happen? This makes Obama a liar in my book. Unless of course he says he didnt cause it. |
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stinky totally different. nice try, but epic fail. |
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dmaestro 05-Oct-12, 17:02 |
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Employment numbers perspective The jobs number today is an artifact when taken within the context of the U6. The number of completely unemployed and underemployed was 25.8 million in August, in September it's 26.2 million, taken within the context of no budge in U6, "unemployment" (U3) is down because people either 1) stopped looking for work, or 2) took a part-time job. I don't know about any of you but I couldn't pay my bills on a part-time job. Also put this together that foodstamps are at their highest ever, and I'm not so sure anyone should get to smug or declare victory . . . I know the democrats are looking for anything after the ass kicking Obama took in the debates, and I completely understand why they will claim this - all's fair in love and war (and elections, right? lawl) but I just want the group here to look at this outside of the partisan democrat rhetoric and GOP conspiracy theories |
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ace_kyi 05-Oct-12, 19:44 |
Too little and too late. |
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Stinky ... |
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dmaestro 05-Oct-12, 20:07 |
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dmaestro 05-Oct-12, 20:08 |
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josh Jobs Report: Cooked or Correct? By JOE NOCERA “Unbelievable job numbers,” tweeted Jack Welch, the iconic former boss of General Electric on Friday morning, moments after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its September jobs figures. “These Chicago guys will do anything,” he continued. “Can’t debate so change numbers.” The jobs numbers, unquestionably, gave a boost to the Obama campaign, still reeling from the president’s poor debate performance. While the bureau’s survey of businesses showed a ho-hum rise of 114,000 in nonfarm employment, the unemployment rate had somehow dropped from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent, far exceeding expectations. Thus, a month before the election, and for the first time in Obama’s presidency, unemployment was under 8 percent. Welch smelled conspiracy. And he wasn’t alone. “Total data manipulation,” tweeted a writer at Zerohedge, a financial news blog. “Such a farce.” Fox News spent much of Friday morning piling on. It’s worth pointing out that the last time anyone accused the Bureau of Labor Statistics of being politically motivated was when Richard Nixon did so in 1971. Upset that the bureau was releasing figures showing higher unemployment during his re-election campaign, he asked his hatchet man, Charles Colson, to investigate the bureau’s top officials, including its chief, Julius Shiskin. So Point No. 1: the idea that a handful of career bureaucrats, their jobs secure no matter who is in the White House, would manipulate the unemployment data to help President Obama, is ludicrous. Jack Welch knows it, too; when I called him Friday afternoon, he quickly backpedaled. “I’m not accusing anybody of anything,” he protested. But he went on to add that everything he’s seen suggests that the economy remains in the doldrums, and it just didn’t seem possible that the unemployment rate could have dropped so drastically, and so quickly. Hence, Point No. 2: there is, indeed, something a little strange about the way the country derives its employment statistics. It turns out that the statistics the bureau releases each month are generated by two different reports. One, called the establishment report, is a survey of businesses. That’s where the 114,000 additional jobs comes from. The second is a survey of 55,000 households, where people are asked about their employment status. Extrapolating from the survey, the bureau concluded that an additional 873,000 people had found work in September. It is that number that brought the unemployment rate from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent. When I asked a bureau spokeswoman why there was such divergence between the two numbers, she said she had no idea. “The reports are totally separate,” she said. When I put the same question to economists, they shrugged. Maybe it was because an additional 582,000 Americans were working part time, which doesn’t show up in payroll statistics. Maybe it was because of increased government employment. For some unexplained reason, there is always an uptick in September. (“Maybe it has something to do with going back to school,” said Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics, who quickly added, “I’m just guessing here.”) In any case, it wasn’t anything economists hadn’t seen before. Sometimes the two surveys delink, though over the long term they tend to reinforce each other. In the short term, however, the household survey is considered the more volatile — and less reliable — of the two numbers. Which leads to Point No. 3: there is something truly absurd about having the presidential race hinge on the unemployment rate. Even putting aside the reliability of the short-term numbers, the harsh reality is that no president has much control over the economy. That is especially true of President Obama, whose every effort to boost the economy these past two years has been stymied by Republicans. Again and again, they have shown they would rather see the country suffer than do anything that might help Obama’s re-election. There is rough justice in the way things are playing out. Having spent the last year wrongly blaming the president for high unemployment, Republicans can only stand by helplessly as the unemployment rate goes down at the worst possible moment for them. Fox News scoured the data Friday, looking for signs that the economy wasn’t improving. They found some: high unemployment for African-Americans, for instance, and fewer manufacturing jobs. But the data were largely overwhelmed by positive signals. In its revised figures for July and August, for instance, the bureau said that more jobs had been created than it originally estimated. People with only high school degrees were finding jobs. The number of people who had been out of work for six months or more was at its lowest point in three years. Whether the Republicans like it or not, the economy is slowing getting better. Awful, isn’t it? |
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dmaestro 05-Oct-12, 21:02 |
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more positive news re jobs of course, they will continue to claim conspiracy, and continue to sabotage efforts and improving the economy, but the truth is that things are getting better. WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid plummeted to 339,000 last week, the lowest level in more than four years. The sharp drop, a shocker to analysts and investors, offered a hopeful sign that the job market could be picking up. The Labor Department says weekly applications fell by 30,000 to the lowest level since February 2008. The surprisingly positive number is likely to push stock prices higher Thursday amid ongoing concerns about a slowdown in global growth. This week's decline adds to other evidence that hiring is improving. Last week's labor market report showed the unemployment rate fell to 7.8% in September, the first time it has fallen below 8% since January 2009. Better-than-usual weather returned construction workers and others back to the job, and the end of some union-related labor strikes also reduced the number of jobless claims, some analysts said. Two weeks ago, the number was revised up slightly to 369,000 from the first estimated 367,000. The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, dropped by 11,500 to 364,000, a six-month low. There have been some hopeful signs that the U.S. economy is improving. Manufacturing grew in September for the first time in four months, according to a closely watched survey from the Institute of Supply Management. The growth was driven by a jump in new orders and more hiring. The unemployment rate declined to 7.8 percent in September, the lowest level since January 2009. It fell because of a huge increase in the number of people who said they found jobs. Increases in major purchases show consumers gaining more confidence in the economy. Auto sales rose 13% last month from a year earlier to nearly 1.2 million. Home sales have been posting solid gains, which have driven home prices higher. When home prices rise, people tend to feel wealthier and spend more freely. |
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