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Jobless rate rises to 8.3 percent, hiring picks up but still falling short

Billy the Kid

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Economy adds 163,000 jobs in July, unemployment rate rises to 8.3 percent

Read more: Economy adds 163,000 jobs in July, unemployment rate rises to 8.3 percent | Fox News


"July's hiring was the best since February. Still, the economy has added an average of 151,000 jobs a month this year, roughly the same as last year's pace. That's not enough to satisfy the 12.8 million Americans who are unemployed."


Well at least we're in the same place we were last year.
 
Here is the government data:

Employment Situation Summary Table A. Household data, seasonally adjusted


So, how did the government/Fed (remember, one of the Fed's mandates is 'full employment') do in July?

Well (compared to June/'12):

- the labor force is smaller
- there are less Americans working
- the participation rate is smaller
- the unemployment rate is higher



And speaking of the participation rate - it is now the second lowest it has been in 29 years (the lowest was last April)

Notice: Data not available: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
 
worth noting is also that labor-force participation decreased. Had it not, U3 would currently stand at 8.4%. If you assume a labor force participation that Obama had when he took office, unemployment is currently at 11%, thought to be fair, when you account for the natural aging of the workforce (and the retiring that brings on), the number drops to 10.6%
 
June was also revised down to 64,000 from 80,000. The raw numbers have households actually dropping 195k jobs in July, but seasonal adjustments made that a +163k
 
worth noting is also that labor-force participation decreased. Had it not, U3 would currently stand at 8.4%. If you assume a labor force participation that Obama had when he took office, unemployment is currently at 11%, thought to be fair, when you account for the natural aging of the workforce (and the retiring that brings on), the number drops to 10.6%

Actually, even if you take the most die hard, liberal think tank estimates that half of the loss in participation rate is due to retirement (which does not include the number of people that retired early because they cannot find work); then even by that rosy estimate, the unemployment rate compared to the participation rate when Obama took over should be at over 9.7% today.

No matter how you slice it - the economy is not improving.

Despite the fact that staggering amounts of debt are being thrown at it by both the government and the Fed.
 
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Anyone want to guess what excuse pro-Obama types will be using this time?

I am guessing the old standby's of either/both;

- 'we would be much worse off without Obama'

OR

- 'it's all Bush's fault'



BTW - I am neither lib or con.
 
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worth noting is also that labor-force participation decreased. Had it not, U3 would currently stand at 8.4%. If you assume a labor force participation that Obama had when he took office, unemployment is currently at 11%, thought to be fair, when you account for the natural aging of the workforce (and the retiring that brings on), the number drops to 10.6%

In addition the U-6 rate is now 15% and that puts the unemployed/under employed well over 23 million. Obama believed you can delegate responsibility and as President can just tell people what to do and then blame someone else when the numbers are terrible like these. Unfortunately for Obama you cannot delegate responsibility and the responsibility for these numbers are his

Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey
Original Data Value

Series Id: LNS13000000
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Unemployment Level
Labor force status: Unemployed
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over
Years: 2000 to 2010

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2009 12049 12860 13389 13796 14505 14727 14646 14861 15012 15421 15227 15124
2010 14953 15039 15128 15221 14876 14517 14609 14735 14574 14636 15104 14393
2011 13919 13751 13628 13792 13892 14024 13908 13920 13897 13759 13323 13097
2012 12758 12806 12673 12500 12720 12749 12794

Discouraged workers
2008 467 396 401 412 400 420 461 381 467 484 608 642
2009 734 731 685 740 792 793 796 758 706 808 861 929
2010 1065 1204 994 1197 1083 1207 1185 1110 1209 1219 1282 1318
2011 993 1020 921 989 822 982 1119 977 1037 967 1096 945
2012 1059 1006 865 968 830 821 852

Unemployed + Discouraged
2008 8145 7887 8217 8043 8795 8998 9411 9831 9968 10567 11152 11941
2009 12783 13591 14074 14536 15297 15520 15442 15619 15718 16229 16088 16053
2010 16018 16243 16122 16418 15959 15724 15794 15845 15783 15855 16386 15711
2011 14912 14771 14549 14781 14714 15006 15027 14897 14934 14726 14419 14042
2012 13817 13812 13538 13468 13550 13570 13646 0 0 0 0 0

Labor Force 2009 154185 154424 154100 154453 154805 154754 154457 154362 153940 154022 153795 153172
Labor Force 2012 154395 154871 154707 154365 155007 155163 155013


UE 2012 w/o DW 8.26% 8.27% 8.19% 8.10% 8.21% 8.22% 8.25% #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!

2009 U-3 With DW 8.29% 8.94% 8.79% 8.72% 8.75% 8.77% 8.83% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
UE 2012 with DW 8.95% 8.92% 8.75% 8.72% 8.74% 8.75% 8.80% #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!


2012 U-6 rate % 15.1 14.9 14.5 14.5 14.8 14.9 15.0
 
In addition the U-6 rate is now 15% and that puts the unemployed/under employed well over 23 million. Obama believed you can delegate responsibility and as President can just tell people what to do and then blame someone else when the numbers are terrible like these. Unfortunately for Obama you cannot delegate responsibility and the responsibility for these numbers are his

Could you post a link to the statistics in your post please?
 
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Anyone want to guess what excuse pro-Obama types will be using this time?

I am guessing the old standby's of either/both;

- 'we would be much worse off without Obama'

OR

- 'it's all Bush's fault'

Either way, the solution is obviously to tax the rich, more and more, until they are forced to hire people since they are paying them (via Obama handouts) anyway. Yes they can!
 
Either way, the solution is obviously to tax the rich, more and more, until they are forced to hire people since they are paying them (via Obama handouts) anyway. Yes they can!

It would be nice if we could get people like Romney just to pay taxes, period.

I'm not a Democrat and I am not an Obama supporter. To date the wealthy have enjoyed Bush tax cuts and all the tax loopholes that you and I cannot get yet unemployment continues to suck like a bucket of ticks. Simply continuing the Bush tax cuts isn't going to do squat for jobs and real Americans.
 
Actually, even if you take the most die hard, liberal think tank estimates that half of the loss in participation rate is due to retirement (which does not include the number of people that retired early because they cannot find work); then even by that rosy estimate, the unemployment rate compared to the participation rate when Obama took over should be at over 9.7% today.

No matter how you slice it - the economy is not improving.

Despite the fact that staggering amounts of debt are being thrown at it by both the government and the Fed.

The economy is improving just not at the rates people want it to be. Gallup tracks a few key numbers. Numbers that to me are more important than just the official unemployment rate. They track the % of adults employed full time, and % of people who are underemployed.

Jan 7 2010 we were at 63.3% FT (fulltime) and 19.4% UE (underemployed) 19.4%.
Jan 7 2011 we were at 63.7% FT and 19.2% UE
Jan 7 2012 we were at 65.2% FT and 18.3% UE
Aug 1 2012 we were at 66.6% FT and 17.1% UE

Those numbers show improvement and I think are more of an indication of job market growth and job quality.

source: Gallup Daily: U.S. Employment
 
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Could you post a link to these statistics?

You can find the data at BEA.gov

Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey
Original Data Value

Series Id: LNS13000000
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Unemployment Level
Labor force status: Unemployed
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over
Years: 2000 to 2010

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2008 7678 7491 7816 7631 8395 8578 8950 9450 9501 10083 10544 11299
2009 12049 12860 13389 13796 14505 14727 14646 14861 15012 15421 15227 15124
2010 14953 15039 15128 15221 14876 14517 14609 14735 14574 14636 15104 14393
2011 13919 13751 13628 13792 13892 14024 13908 13920 13897 13759 13323 13097
2012 12758 12806 12673 12500 12720 12749 12794

Discouraged workers
2008 467 396 401 412 400 420 461 381 467 484 608 642
2009 734 731 685 740 792 793 796 758 706 808 861 929
2010 1065 1204 994 1197 1083 1207 1185 1110 1209 1219 1282 1318
2011 993 1020 921 989 822 982 1119 977 1037 967 1096 945
2012 1059 1006 865 968 830 821 852

Unemployed + Discouraged
2008 8145 7887 8217 8043 8795 8998 9411 9831 9968 10567 11152 11941
2009 12783 13591 14074 14536 15297 15520 15442 15619 15718 16229 16088 16053
2010 16018 16243 16122 16418 15959 15724 15794 15845 15783 15855 16386 15711
2011 14912 14771 14549 14781 14714 15006 15027 14897 14934 14726 14419 14042
2012 13817 13812 13538 13468 13550 13570 13646 0 0 0 0 0

Labor Force 2009 154185 154424 154100 154453 154805 154754 154457 154362 153940 154022 153795 153172

Labor Force 2012 154395 154871 154707 154365 155007 155163 155013


UE 2012 w/o DW 8.26% 8.27% 8.19% 8.10% 8.21% 8.22% 8.25% #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!

2009 U-3 With DW 8.29% 8.94% 8.79% 8.72% 8.75% 8.77% 8.83% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

UE 2012 with DW 8.95% 8.92% 8.75% 8.72% 8.74% 8.75% 8.80% #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!



2012 U-6 rate % 15.1 14.9 14.5 14.5 14.8 14.9 15.0

Total U-6 millions 23.07 22.9 23.4
 
The economy is improving just not at the rates people want it to be. Gallup tracks a few key numbers. Numbers that to me are more important than just the official unemployment rate. They track the % of adults employed full time, and % of people who are underemployed.

Jan 7 2010 we were at 63.3% FT (fulltime) and 19.4% UE (underemployed) 19.4%.
Jan 7 2011 we were at 63.7% FT and 19.2% UE
Jan 7 2012 we were at 65.2% FT and 18.3% UE
Aug 1 2012 we were at 66.6% FT and 17.1% UE

Those numbers show improvement and I think are more of an indication of job market growth and job quality.

source: Gallup Daily: U.S. Employment

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the source for jobs and unemployment data and the labor participation rate is at record lows. There are over 23 million unemployed/under employed Americans today which is over 3 years after the end of the recession and we are still averaging over 800k discouraged workers a month. That isn't an improvement
 
The economy is improving just not at the rates people want it to be. Gallup tracks a few key numbers. Numbers that to me are more important than just the official unemployment rate. They track the % of adults employed full time, and % of people who are underemployed.

Jan 7 2010 we were at 63.3% FT (fulltime) and 19.4% UE (underemployed) 19.4%.
Jan 7 2011 we were at 63.7% FT and 19.2% UE
Jan 7 2012 we were at 65.2% FT and 18.3% UE
Aug 1 2012 we were at 66.6% FT and 17.1% UE

Those numbers show improvement and I think are more of an indication of job market growth and job quality.

source: Gallup Daily: U.S. Employment

I am not sure I would use the Gallup poll as my yardstick, but I like that the numbers are showing some improvement. But the true economy measurements, Unemployment, GDP, those are not showing what the Gallup is showing. Maybe Gallup is a precursor to good things to come, but I don't think so.
 
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It would be nice if we could get people like Romney just to pay taxes, period.

I'm not a Democrat and I am not an Obama supporter. To date the wealthy have enjoyed Bush tax cuts and all the tax loopholes that you and I cannot get yet unemployment continues to suck like a bucket of ticks. Simply continuing the Bush tax cuts isn't going to do squat for jobs and real Americans.

LOL, enjoyed keeping more of what they earned? Gee, how can that be. How is increasing taxes on those evil rich people going to benefit the economy? Can you name for me any time when increased taxes balanced the budget? Please don't give me the bs about the Clinton years because there were deficits each year of the Clinton term.
 
I am not sure I would use the Gallup poll as my yardstick, but I like that the numbers are showing some improvement. But the true economy measurements, Unemployment, GDP, those are not showing what the Gallup is showing. Maybe Gallup is a precursor to good things to come, but I don't think so.



Just heard the "under-employed" is at 15%.

But at least we're where we were last year as far as employment.

How long before Berneke makes a move?
 
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It would be nice if we could get people like Romney just to pay taxes, period.

I'm not a Democrat and I am not an Obama supporter. To date the wealthy have enjoyed Bush tax cuts and all the tax loopholes that you and I cannot get yet unemployment continues to suck like a bucket of ticks. Simply continuing the Bush tax cuts isn't going to do squat for jobs and real Americans.

You bought right into the class warfare.

I am not saying don't expand taxes on the rich, but I would first promote expanding the pool that pays income tax.
 
The economy is improving just not at the rates people want it to be. Gallup tracks a few key numbers. Numbers that to me are more important than just the official unemployment rate. They track the % of adults employed full time, and % of people who are underemployed.

Jan 7 2010 we were at 63.3% FT (fulltime) and 19.4% UE (underemployed) 19.4%.
Jan 7 2011 we were at 63.7% FT and 19.2% UE
Jan 7 2012 we were at 65.2% FT and 18.3% UE
Aug 1 2012 we were at 66.6% FT and 17.1% UE

Those numbers show improvement and I think are more of an indication of job market growth and job quality.

source: Gallup Daily: U.S. Employment

Gallup use a smaller sampling (I beleive), does not include 16 and 17 year olds (as the BEA does) and are not seasonally adjusted.

And most economists do not go by it - they, the government and almost the entire world go by the official government statistics.
 
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Just heard the "under-employed" is at 15%.

But at least we're where we were last year as far as employment.

How long before Berneke makes a move?

As I understand it, Berneke has a gun with no bullets. They have done everything they could to spark growth, but there is nothing left to do. Interest rates are the lowest ever.
 
As I understand it, Berneke has a gun with no bullets. They have done everything they could to spark growth, but there is nothing left to do. Interest rates are the lowest ever.

Just goes to show how little this Administration knows about the private sector. The private sector is not going to create jobs when it is demonized and threatened with higher taxes. Incentive drives all personal behavior and that is something Obama will never understand.
 
I am not sure I would use the Gallup poll as my yardstick, but I like that the numbers are showing some improvement. But the true economy measurements, Unemployment, GDP, those are not showing what the Gallup is showing. Maybe Gallup is a precursor to good things to come, but I don't think so.

Gallup numbers seem solid to me, and I haven't seen anything that refutes it or really makes it seem inaccurate. My problem with a lot of the other numbers that people like the throw out is that they are politically motivated. Obama and company puts numbers on display that makes it seem like our economy is on a great rebound and Romney and Co. put out numbers that show us pretty much in decline. There are a lot of numbers that can be twisted and both sides exploit that.

To me, what is important are the numbers Gallup put out there. The % of working adults full time and % of people who are underemployed. What is more important to our economic growth and job market than those 2 numbers?
 
Just goes to show how little this Administration knows about the private sector. The private sector is not going to create jobs when it is demonized and threatened with higher taxes. Incentive drives all personal behavior and that is something Obama will never understand.

Lower taxes don't create jobs either. Demand does. As long as demand for products and services remains low, businesses aren't going to hire more people.
 
Lower taxes don't create jobs either. Demand does. As long as demand for products and services remains low, businesses aren't going to hire more people.

Lower taxes create an atmosphere for positive economic growth. What do you do when you get more spendable income? Does more spendable income translate into more economic activity?
 
Gallup numbers seem solid to me, and I haven't seen anything that refutes it or really makes it seem inaccurate. My problem with a lot of the other numbers that people like the throw out is that they are politically motivated. Obama and company puts numbers on display that makes it seem like our economy is on a great rebound and Romney and Co. put out numbers that show us pretty much in decline. There are a lot of numbers that can be twisted and both sides exploit that.

To me, what is important are the numbers Gallup put out there. The % of working adults full time and % of people who are underemployed. What is more important to our economic growth and job market than those 2 numbers?
I am not denying that Politicians use numbers and twist numbers to their benefit, but Unemployment and GDP are tracked (predominantly, there have been changes) the same from month to month. Using the same ruler that is number based instead of emotionally based is a better metric of performance.

Your question is what is more important to our economic growth and job market than those two numbers.
Answer - Unemployment and GDP
 
I am not denying that Politicians use numbers and twist numbers to their benefit, but Unemployment and GDP are tracked (predominantly, there have been changes) the same from month to month. Using the same ruler that is number based instead of emotionally based is a better metric of performance.

Your question is what is more important to our economic growth and job market than those two numbers.
Answer - Unemployment and GDP

unemployment figures are a joke and are exploited because they don't show a complete picture.
 
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