US economy creates 96,000 jobs but figure disappoints
Source: BBC News
"The US economy created 96,000 jobs in August and the jobless rate fell to 8.1%, official figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show."
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19519037
MSNBC commentators (even Joe Scar!) say Obama now has a MAJOR TAILWIND!!!
Stuckinthebush
(10,844 posts)Better!
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Roland99
(53,342 posts)data back to 2002:
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000/
the unemployment rate dropped because people are leaving the workforce because they can't find work!
Change the start year in the dropdown at the top of the page and set it to 1981 to see how bad things really are.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)critical moment, just coming out of the DNC and moving into the home stretch.
Not a positive, but not a negative either--politically speaking.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)SlimJimmy
(3,180 posts)personally know who are out of work to find a job - and not just some burger flipping job to replace the 50k a year job they used to have. These numbers suck, and no amount of spin is going to change that. We MUST do better, much better.
glacierbay
(2,477 posts)I'm just amazed at those here trying to spin this as good news, this is not good news for Pres. Obama, although we all know where the fault lies, it lies with the R's in congress that refuse to pass the Jobs bill which, according to the CBO, will put appox. 2 million of our fellow americans back to work.
Unfortunately, Pres. Obama is going to get the blame and the R's are going unfairly the misery of unemployed citizens.
In no way is this good news.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)point uptick at this critical moment in the election cycle.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)gonna find nothin', flippin' burgers or anything else.
SlimJimmy
(3,180 posts)getting employed in large numbers will. This report is *not* good, and all the sunshine in the world isn't going to change that.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Dream on!
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)Not what is actually true... Hold on, isn't that what we say the repukes strategy is?
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)totodeinhere
(13,058 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)But, this is an absolutely critical instant in the election cycle that has to be exploited for all its worth.
To bewail the figures would be shooting ourselves in the foot.
The wave of enthusiasm from Charlotte has to be ridden all the way to Nov.6
demosincebirth
(12,536 posts)that? then you must be trying to deflate the balloon. 90% of the people don't even know what "The labor force participation rate is." What we know is "arithmetic" and that looks good.
former9thward
(31,981 posts)Maybe you are not in that category.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)Are you kidding me???
demosincebirth
(12,536 posts)Roland99
(53,342 posts)There's nothing good in the U/E rate dropping to 8.1% from 8.3% other than it looks pretty in headlines. The TRUTH behind that number is an ugly one. A very ugly truth.
demosincebirth
(12,536 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Sure as hell better than an uptick in the percentage!!!
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)does everyone that cites this figure, consistently fail to mention the 10,000 people per day, that have, since 2011 and everyday thereafter, reached retirement age.
http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=1150
45% (4,500) of which exercise this option.
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/01/151741738/as-portfolios-recover-more-workers-retire-at-65
and, how about those that retire at 62 and 55?
Numbers in isolation are useless.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)the number graduating (an event that covers a one to two month event) vs 10,000 people reaching retirement age per DAY?
Maybe you'd like to answer your own question.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)40 years ago!
SlimJimmy
(3,180 posts)alone. Taken as a whole, retirements don't come close to covering it.
liberallibral
(272 posts)demosincebirth
(12,536 posts)Remember? "Arithmetic." -.2 is better.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)400,000 Americans stopped looking for work in August and dropped out of the labor force, i.e., gave up on the economy.
Only by stretching ingenuity to its limits or relying upon your audience's economic illiteracy can this be construed as 'better.'
The real question is who or what is to blame? IMO, it's the fault of the 2010 "Do-Nothing Congress," a line of attack I hope Obama starts exploiting soon.
SlimJimmy
(3,180 posts)little fact out at every opportunity.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)Republican Congress did absolutely nothing to advance a Jobs Bill, a little fact I hope Obama's campaign starts promoting intensively between now and November.
SlimJimmy
(3,180 posts)dkf
(37,305 posts)The Woodward book details the failure of the Boehner negotiations and it's painful to read. Obama was very very close but asked too much of Boehner who was already far out on a limb with his caucus.
Bill Clinton was excellent at this and Biden is pretty good also. The President needs to be able to move congress or we are so screwed.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)I didn't get the "over-reach" point from the book ... I read where boehner agreed but couldn't sell his caucus on the deal he agreed to.
But I guess one could say, getting someone to agree to what you ask for and them not being able to deliver is your fault for asking for too much.
dkf
(37,305 posts)That is when Boehner walked. If you have anything to the contrary I would like to see it.
http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=17104635
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)On whom one believes ...
The president and aides said Boehner had failed to return previous presidential calls, and backed away from a deal because he feared loss of support from Tea Party members of his caucus.
"I was pretty angry," Obama told Woodward. "There's no doubt I thought it was profoundly irresponsible, at that stage, not to call me back immediately and let me know what was going on."
Boehner said the White House loaded down the deal at the end with too many tax hikes; Obama would later say he only broached the possibility of new government revenues.
"He (the president) was pissed," Boehner told Woodward. "He wasn't going to get a damn dime more out of me. He knew how far out on a limb I was. But he was hot. It was clear to me that coming to an agreement with him was not going to happen, and that I had to go to Plan B."
President Obama, who can be said to spin a fact; but has yet to be accused of lying (except by the right) - along with his infuriatingly frequent attempts to reach agreement by giving ground ... Or, boehner, with his pristine record for truthfulness - along with his expressed frustration with having to appease the teaparty wing?
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)negative talking points!
Excellent!
demosincebirth
(12,536 posts)coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)economy is improving, quite the contrary.
The real question, imo, is who is to blame. The answer, imo, is this friggin' "Do-Nothing Congress."
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Retired?
(I know at my employer, over the last year, 89% of those separating - 72 people - did.)
How many of those are (recent) high-school graduates that opted for advanced education full-time?
(I know at my daughter's school, they had a graduation class of 1,100 - 97% left for college, full-time, in August.)
I significant portion of that LMPR number is NOT unemployed, discouraged workers.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)to say "I don't know" in answer to your questions about the number who retired or chose higher education.
The devil, as is often said, is "in the details" and I must confess I do not know where to go to access those details.
But here's an excerpt from analysis on Yahoo.com:
Quitting could mean going on disability, going into the grey market (read: getting paid cash for odd jobs), doing something illicit, or begging. Whatever they're doing instead of working or looking for legitimate jobs, 368,000 Americans gave up on participating in the economy in August alone.
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/why-drop-unemployment-rate-tragic-144809610.html
I'll grant you that Yahoo often shows a distinctly right-wing bias, but I'm not sure whether that is at play in this analysis.
Mr.Bill
(24,282 posts)can be attributed to baby boomers retiring. I know a few myself.
Setsuna1972
(332 posts)Or was it someone else?
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)still_one
(92,136 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)geckosfeet
(9,644 posts)US economy creates 96,000 jobs in August
Employment increased in food services and drinking places, professional and technical services and healthcare, the Bureau said.
But the figure was lower than expected and revisions to June and July data mean that 41,000 fewer jobs were created than previously reported.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Thanks for the link!
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Maybe you should aim more to the right?
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)U.S. jobs growth brakes in August, seen forcing Fed's hand. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/09/07/uk-usa-economy-idUKBRE8860LK20120907
nobodyspecial
(2,286 posts)And this is with one hand tied behind his back. It would have dropped even more if Congress had approved money for teachers, construction and other government workers.
dkf
(37,305 posts)368,000 people gave up. Only 91,000 found jobs. We need 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.
The Fed has to use monetary policy because fiscal policy is inoperative. That is a failure of the legislative branch collectively.
Botany
(70,490 posts)..... so people are hurting in order to gain political power. Think of all the public
sector workers who were fired or the total lack of effort to work on the jobs bill
that has been before congress w/out them doing anything or the Chamber of commerce
that protects and promotes the outsourcing of US jobs and in return gets paid
big money from China.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)"See? Democrats actually cheer when the economic news is good!"
Botany
(70,490 posts).... more jobs which in turn would have created more tax money for the
city, state, and federal government and helped with the budgets.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)a "must see" for every voter. Let's make it go viral!!!! The MSM forgot about it long ago.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Robbins
(5,066 posts)I was hoping for this.
Unemployment has dropped to where It was when Obama took office.
It was 8.1 when Obama took office.And only then did he and his team really know how bad a mess Bush left.When trying to deal with
the mess without any help from Republicans unemployment rose to 10 percent.It's now solely because of Obama and Democrats'
efforts back to where It was when he took office.
I tell you If It could ge down to 7.9 as the debates start next month Romney Is In trouble.
And we may know now why Romney Isn't spending money In Michigan,Pa,and Wisconsin,and why Rove Is leaving Ohio to Romney.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)and to capitalize on the 3 days in Charlotte.
Cosmocat
(14,563 posts)the plateau they just can't get past.
The get it into the 7s, even 7.9, and it will feel different to people.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Additionally:
From January 2009 through December 2011, 6.1 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This was down from 6.9 million for the survey period covering January 2007 to December 2009. In January 2012, 56 percent of workers displaced from 2009-11 were reemployed, up by 7 percentage points from the prior survey in January 2010.
That from the BLS, Here.
In other words, 44 of every hundred people got nothing, and the majority of the ones that did get re-employed were far more likely to lose a third or more of their income. On the other hand Jamie Dimon and other bankers are doing fine as QE1 and QE2, Twist, other programs continue to prop up their assets, in the hopes that it will trickle down to the rest of us.
The data update for the number of working poor for the past four years will be released not too long before the election, and it will show a steady increase in the number of working poor in the past 4 years. Our poverty numbers are already around 1965 numbers, and heading for 1960. If you weren't around then, it was a great time, everyone seeing a problem and trying to do something about it. Not hiding their heads in the sand and making excuses. 'Cause that really doesn't help anyone.
We will see if our current austerity program leads to a win.
avebury
(10,952 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)Get rid of the obstruction GOP CONgress and there would be the real growth needed. But the difference between GOP and Obama is clear:
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)julian09
(1,435 posts)treehuggnlibrul
(137 posts)Four days after President Obama was inaugurated, I was in my company's fourth round of layoffs.
Unemployment benefits that I'd paid into for 20+ years made it possible for us to get through the first year and a half of my unemployment, and gave me time to set up a freelance business that has kept us in our house. It wasn't easy, but we made it.
Last night I watched as President Obama accepted the nomination.
As I watched last night, I choked up when Joe Biden talked about a father telling his kids he lost his job. I remember that moment with painful clarity. And when President Obama said "You give me hope," I was thinking how, when I lost my job, I was thankful that Obama was our new president, and how he gave ME hope for four years.
Monday, I start a new, full-time position.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)I think you should post this as a separate OP. It's so powerful and inspiring!
SlimJimmy
(3,180 posts)cigsandcoffee
(2,300 posts)Not to rain on the "high-five" theme of this thread or anything, and certainly not to say that the lackluster performance is Obama's fault - without him, it would be a lot worse.
But people giving up the search for work, resulting in a lower unemployment rate, is not really anything to cheer about.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)the DNC and moving into the last 60-day home stretch, we didn't need an uptick in the figures.
oliverrams1
(60 posts)That Obama's job bill cannot get out of the house with a lot of people suffering? Can Bill C go on the road and promote the jobs bill? That's what they did for the increase in student loan rates and it pressured them to do something about it.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)campaign trail to hound the fuckers daily.
Shame them into action. PBO can't harry them in the same way, or he would appear "unpresidential".
BP2
(554 posts)I think there's other things we should focus on.
8.3 to 8.1 percent sounds great, until put in a greater context of knowing that your spouse or neighbor is still looking for a Job.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Obviously, millions are still hurting, but there is hope.
nolabear
(41,959 posts)Personally, I wish it was better but it's continuing in the right direction and people hire in the fall, so the next couple of months should be steadily better.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)He'll say whatever will get him noticed.
It's all Toady Todd, all the time...
mojo2012
(290 posts)I think there needs to be another hit and point out the Do-Nothing Congress. President Obama gave them a decent Jobs Bill ONE YEAR AGO. Instead the Congress chose to vote to repeal Obamacare over and over again and not address the Jobs Bill.
Then they leave for a 5 week vacation leaving the Farm Bill hanging and the cliff to teeter on because they didn't feel it important enough to vote on all the things expiring on Dec. 31.
Mitch McConnell is the least constructive figure in the Washington and by no means a leader. He is a bitter man and doesn't give a rip about the people of this country, his only goal is getting President Obama out of office. I have absolutely NO respect for this man or most of the members of Congress (new Tea Party members). The jobs number and unemployment rate would be so much better by now if the Congress would have passed the Jobs Bill
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)to go viral. Saturate all social media with it. A must-see for voters:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014221742#post14
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)needs saying and repeating.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)My local lefty radio station gets a feed from ABC News and when I woke up this morning the first thing I heard was how horrible the jobs report was, coming "just hours after President Obama spoke in Charlotte."
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Not a lot of love here, either.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)that liberals would lament a multiple orgasmic event as a loss of bodily fluids.
center rising
(971 posts)The only reason it fell is because more people stopped looking. 96,000 is a pathetic number any way you spin it.
glacierbay
(2,477 posts)and the American people aren't stupid, well, most of them, they'll know why the rate dropped, not because of more jobs created, but because more people just gave up looking for a job. In no way is this good news for Pres. Obama, but to counter this, he needs to hammer Congress to get moving on his Jobs bill and get people back to work.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)See 1StrongBlackMan's post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014221742#post55
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)slackmaster
(60,567 posts)budkin
(6,699 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)normal robotic, stiff, ungracious self!
Sure, he had a few hackneyed talking points to throw out at his press availability--singularly unremarkable.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Unemployment and labor market participation rate, why doesn't anyone talk about a very relevant number ... the 10,000 people per day, since 2011 and everyday since, that have and are reaching retirement age?
http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=1150
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)We're seriously into the boomer demographic bulge now. Since early 2011, the boomers have been retiring in droves. (Myself included!)
totodeinhere
(13,058 posts)This is not good news. I understand that the OP is trying to spin it as good news in an effort to help President Obama's reelection. But it is terrible news. The numbers are weaker than most economists expected. The unemployment rate went down slightly due mostly to people giving up and leaving the work force.
I support President Obama. But I also support telling it like it is.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/07/august-jobs-report_n_1864001.html
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Boomer demographic bulge in play?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014221742#post55
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)So of course I love this news.
But gotta say just this week I know of over 500 people who had good paying jobs last friday but have been let go in two mass layoffs at studios. And things are looking very very sketchy at several other places. We really need to elect a government that will do more about the economy and keeping jobs here in the US. So everyone please vote straight dem. We need congress and governors who will work with the president. Wish the election was tomorrow!
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)"So everyone please vote straight dem. We need congress and governors who will work with the president."
Green_Lantern
(2,423 posts)For one thing how many of these jobs are being filled by one person?
Also number of jobs doesn't count if the jobs suck and barely cover the cost of living.
The article says "The percentage of Americans who either have a job or who are looking for one fell to 63.5%, the lowest participation rate since 1981."
So the job market must not be that great.
Rhiannon12866
(205,202 posts)Last edited Sat Sep 8, 2012, 05:01 PM - Edit history (1)
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