Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

WCGreen

(45,558 posts)
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 11:08 AM Sep 2012

The job numbers are not as bad as they look...

at least politically. What most people will see is the Jobless rate dropped from 8.3% to 8.1%.

Most people don't look past that number, the percentage.

On the other hand, the real reason these jobs numbers are down is because of the childish behavior of the GOP.

But we know the case for that will be lost in the big themes of a campaign.

No election is lost or won on the job numbers from August.

If the numbers come down poorly for September, again under 100k, then that might be a game changer.

But the ADP numbers from last month showed a much better job performance as this measures the number of people actually counting as new hires. They claim 201k jobs were created in August.

http://www.adpemploymentreport.com/

This will more than likely show up in the September numbers.

BTW, if Romney is so private sector is always better, i find it a little disingenuous that he ignored the ADP numbers and instead seized on the Labor Department numbers.

13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

CaliforniaPeggy

(149,588 posts)
1. I think Romney will seize on whatever he can, whether it makes sense or not!
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 11:13 AM
Sep 2012

In a hopefully vain attempt to make everything look like Obama's fault. No fact checkers for him...

 

antiquie

(4,299 posts)
2. Prefer the ADP stats over Labor Dept, more realistic
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 12:08 PM
Sep 2012

Thanks. I just finished AlterNet's take and appreciate a little good news.

Response to WCGreen (Original post)

 

JaneyVee

(19,877 posts)
5. They look like trickle down republican policies have ultimately failed & we need to lay a new
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 04:12 PM
Sep 2012

FOUNDATION.

Jack Bloem

(1 post)
7. They're not as bad, they are actually worse.
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 04:18 PM
Sep 2012

Great speech last night as usual. The 8.1% represents the U3 series of unemployment numbers. The U6 series that takes into account underemployed and people who have just stopped looking for work is now around 14%.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

This is the worst level of labor participation since 1981.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/jobs-data-disconnect-consumer-spending-markets-disconnect-reality-142739044.html

I looked on Wikipedia today for unemployment. It is a fascinating read for those who love economics. Great quotes in their by Marx. Perhaps, unemployment spikes are simply the nature of the beast in a capitalistic society. That said, I'm worried.

I'm still waiting for the politician who will fall on their sword for this country and tells us the truth that we have to both CUT spending and RAISE taxes for us all, lest we are going to go the way of Greece soon enough...

http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/home/521586-cbo-report-warns-of-possible-recession-in-2013

WCGreen

(45,558 posts)
9. They usually revise these numbers as more data comes in....
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 04:24 PM
Sep 2012

The real key is that there is little to no growth in government employment.

 

JaneyVee

(19,877 posts)
10. If we're going to go the way of Greece it will be republicans to march us there
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 04:26 PM
Sep 2012

Just like Greece, the GOP has a problem with making the wealthy or pretty much anyone else pay taxes.

progressivebydesign

(19,458 posts)
13. Gosh. if the republicans actually stop obstructing everything, it would be a non-issue.
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 04:28 PM
Sep 2012

The job numbers are way better than ANY month during Bush's job loss months... but thanks for your cheery first post.

progressivebydesign

(19,458 posts)
11. Depends on which media is spinning them. This morning, they were good..
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 04:26 PM
Sep 2012

now they're "dismal"

Considering that fucking GWB had losses each month of Private sector jobs in the hundreds of thousands, I can't believe that people are freaking out. We had a near Depression, with a housing and credit collapse, in one year. It's slow going, but it's going.

Plus people forget that hurricane Isaac was in August, and that affects job numbers.

Hamlette

(15,411 posts)
12. Isn't there a Dem out there who could hire 100,000 for a month to get our numbers up?
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 04:27 PM
Sep 2012

of course I don't think anyone looks at these numbers but us so it would be a waste of time but the numbers make me nervous.

Didn't we see a dip in new unemployment claims recently?

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»The job numbers are not a...