Re: Unemployment Rate Falls Under 9% For First Time Since April 2009!

by Jen Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:49 pm

Phillymg wrote:But back to 1974 the inflation rate hasn't included food & energy either. In order to make a comparison to the past the same standards must be applied or the charts don't work. I'm sure that somewhere there is a chart with inflation including food & energy that goes back to the seventies or even the forties.

I know. I'm just saying if they did include it in the rate (the whole time, not just now), it would make a big difference. The wages back then actually covered the cost of living and they don't now.
Also, if they didn't include the top 1% that make billions per year then there would be an average wage closer to reality especially, since the gap is so much larger now.

by Jen Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:28 pm

jj wrote:Economy Gained 192,000 Jobs in FebruaryMarch 4, 2011

http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Press%20Releases/2011/PR.jobs.statement.march.4.pdf?nocdn=1

Despite Private Sector Increase, Disproportionate Growth in Lower-Wage Industries Remains Concern
Washington, DC – The economy added 192,000 jobs in February, including 222,000 jobs in the private sector, according to employment figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. February’s change marked the largest monthly increase in employment payrolls over the last five months. Industries such as administrative and support services and health care all saw positive monthly changes that drove the overall growth, despite continuing cuts in the public sector and little change to the unemployment rate, which was 8.9 percent.
While February’s gains follow a year of positive employment trends in the private sector, the number of jobs added has not nearly been enough to fill the jobs deficit stemming from the Great Recession. The public sector has continued to suffer, with February’s cuts, numbering 30,000 jobs—from mostly the state and local level—contributing to the accumulated loss of 271,000 jobs since January 2010. Over the course of the recession, total nonfarm payrolls fell by 8.7 million, with only a little over 1.2 million jobs now recovered since 2010.

by Phillymg Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:35 pm

Unemployment Rate Falls Under 9% For First Time Since April 2009! - Page 3 Temp20101244357small

Interesting news about temp workers--

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/4761553

by Phillymg Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:52 pm

More on temp jobs--

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2011-01-17-temp-workers_N.htm

Here's the part of the article that's really really concerning.....

I think it will take a long time before we get back to anything like normal employment--possibly five years before the nation gets back to 6% unemployment.

--Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute

Btw 6% sux.....'normal' unemployment used to be 5% which was already crappy.....maintaining a generationally permanent underclass of the unemployed to recycle thru the prison-industrial complex.

The reality is that the corporations who lobby the politicians are major cheapskates. They don't want to pay unemployment taxes & they certainly don't want to pay higher unemployment taxes. They know that if Tier I unemployment benefits are extended by 14 weeks eventually their unemployment taxes will go up. They want every penny of the $2 trillion that they're hoarding to invest overseas. They don't care if there aren't enough jobs & won't be till 2016. They unleash their troll bloggers across the internet calling the unemployed 'lazy bums' & saying 'get off the couch' knowing full well that the right thing to do is to agree to let H.R. 589 become law.

by Phillymg Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:11 pm

Found link to the Current Population Survey questions--

http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/bqestair.htm

This is also referred to as the Household Survey. It is maintained by the census for the BLS in the DOL. These are the questions asked of persons in the 50,000-60,000 households. The resulting data creates the U3 & U6 unemployment rates each month.

Gallup maintains its own survey of 50,000 other households with essentially the same questions. Because the BLS results emphasize the 'seasonally adjusted' data & the Gallup results emphasize the 'non-seasonally adjusted' data.....Gallup's figures tend to be significantly higher than those of the BLS. The BLS also releases non-seasonally adjusted figures that are higher but bases the U3 & U6 rates on the seasonally adjusted data.

by JaneWI Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:18 pm

Phillymg wrote:Found link to the Current Population Survey questions--

http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/bqestair.htm

This is also referred to as the Household Survey. It is maintained by the census for the BLS in the DOL. These are the questions asked of persons in the 50,000-60,000 households. The resulting data creates the U3 & U6 unemployment rates each month.

Gallup maintains its own survey of 50,000 other households with essentially the same questions. Because the BLS results emphasize the 'seasonally adjusted' data & the Gallup results emphasize the 'non-seasonally adjusted' data.....Gallup's figures tend to be significantly higher than those of the BLS. The BLS also releases non-seasonally adjusted figures that are higher but bases the U3 & U6 rates on the seasonally adjusted data.

Thank you for doing this research. It is good information to know!

Unemployment Rate Falls Under 9% For First Time Since April 2009! - Page 3 220713

by mrgolf Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:43 pm

Phillymg wrote:Found link to the Current Population Survey questions--

http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/bqestair.htm

This is also referred to as the Household Survey. It is maintained by the census for the BLS in the DOL. These are the questions asked of persons in the 50,000-60,000 households. The resulting data creates the U3 & U6 unemployment rates each month.

Gallup maintains its own survey of 50,000 other households with essentially the same questions. Because the BLS results emphasize the 'seasonally adjusted' data & the Gallup results emphasize the 'non-seasonally adjusted' data.....Gallup's figures tend to be significantly higher than those of the BLS. The BLS also releases non-seasonally adjusted figures that are higher but bases the U3 & U6 rates on the seasonally adjusted data.

Mark have you seen the figures for discouraged workers or people that have given up looking for work?

by Sunrise Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:16 pm

JaneWI wrote:
Phillymg wrote:Found link to the Current Population Survey questions--

http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/bqestair.htm

This is also referred to as the Household Survey. It is maintained by the census for the BLS in the DOL. These are the questions asked of persons in the 50,000-60,000 households. The resulting data creates the U3 & U6 unemployment rates each month.

Gallup maintains its own survey of 50,000 other households with essentially the same questions. Because the BLS results emphasize the 'seasonally adjusted' data & the Gallup results emphasize the 'non-seasonally adjusted' data.....Gallup's figures tend to be significantly higher than those of the BLS. The BLS also releases non-seasonally adjusted figures that are higher but bases the U3 & U6 rates on the seasonally adjusted data.

Thank you for doing this research. It is good information to know!

X2

Reminds me of the questions that I asked when I worked for the Census.

by Phillymg Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:07 am

mrgolf wrote:Mark have you seen the figures for discouraged workers or people that have given up looking for work?

The ## of discouraged workers in Feb. was higher than it was in Jan. However I thought I read somewhere that the ## of marginal workers (of which as you noted the discouraged workers are a subcategory) is down 100,000.....having started looking for work more often or having found work. If gas and food prices skyrocket then many marginal & discouraged workers may start looking for jobs again in a big way & thus push up the U3 rate. Here's an interesting article about how the U3 & U6 rates continue to remain in the danger zone--

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110304/pl_ac/7993588_february_unemployment_numbers_not_good_news

Btw here's an article Tazzy found that gives examples of who the discouraged workers are such as college students & housewives--

http://gazettextra.com/news/2011/feb/27/official-numbers-dont-reflect-all-unemployed/

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