The US unemployment rate is plummeting (now 6.6%!)

SharpshooterTom · 07-02-2014 07:16PM #1

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/07/us-economy-jobs-unemployment-rate

Ok lets get the bad news out the way, it was another poor jobs report for the US with only 113,000 jobs (expected to be 200,000, and the US would require that keep up with the pace of the population), the month before proved to only add an even more dismal 75,000 jobs.

Regardless the Unemployment rate in America is plummenting very fast. In decemeber it was 7%, then it declined sharply to 6.7% (by only adding 75,000 jobs?

) and today it has fallen to 6.6%. In all its fallen nearly 1.5% over the past year alone.

However the participation rate in the labor force is at its lowest since 1978. A shocking 62.8%. For example 347,000 people left the labor force in the month of december alone (if you give up looking for work you are not counted in the Unemployment statistics).

Regardless most ordinary Americans don't understand what the participation rate is, all they will see is the unemployment rate falling, which good news for the democrats for this years mid terms and thus should be shoo in.

If this keeps up Obama will go down as this generations FDR without a doubt. Mount rushmore beckons lol, if he can get the unemployment rate down to something like 3% (because thats the rate at which it is going by the time his term ends!), he'll probably go down as America's greatest president ever!

Frosty McSnowballs · 07-02-2014 07:18PM

I can't find my remote control! Where the hell is it?

07-02-2014 07:23PM

Nice one Obama!

Gradually turning the screw on some things, I think he will leave a positive legacy overall despite the overwhelming obstruction by the Republicans.

Plus by not being TOO controversial (relative to Nixon, say, or W), he has paved the way for non-whites to be viable contenders for the US Presidency.

wazky · 07-02-2014 07:24PM

Woohoo! Gooo team!!

07-02-2014 07:25PM

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

If this keeps up Obama will go down as this generations FDR without a doubt. Mount rushmore beckons lol, if he can get the unemployment rate down to something like 3% (because thats the rate at which it is going by the time his term ends!), he'll probably go down as America's greatest president ever!

He's the closest thing to an FDR in the modern age, with the stimulus and healthcare packages.

On the other hand, unemployment will never fall much below 5%, it's what economists call the "natural" rate of unemployment

Stinicker · 07-02-2014 07:27PM

They are all on Tús Courses, Ireland's new export to the United States; How to falsify the Unemployment numbers by Joan Burton and Enda Kenny.

My name is URL · 07-02-2014 07:28PM

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/07/us-economy-jobs-unemployment-rate

Ok lets get the bad news out the way, it was another poor jobs report for the US with only 113,000 jobs (expected to be 200,000, and the US would require that keep up with the pace of the population), the month before proved to only add an even more dismal 75,000 jobs.

Regardless the Unemployment rate in America is plummenting very fast. In decemeber it was 7%, then it declined sharply to 6.7% (by only adding 75,000 jobs? ) and today it has fallen to 6.6%. In all its fallen nearly 1.5% over the past year alone.

However the participation rate in the labor force is at its lowest since 1978. A shocking 62.8%. For example 347,000 people left the labor force in the month of december alone (if you give up looking for work you are not counted in the Unemployment statistics).

Regardless most ordinary Americans don't understand what the participation rate is, all they will see is the unemployment rate falling, which good news for the democrats for this years mid terms and thus should be shoo in.

If this keeps up Obama will go down as this generations FDR without a doubt. Mount rushmore beckons lol, if he can get the unemployment rate down to something like 3% (because thats the rate at which it is going by the time his term ends!), he'll probably go down as America's greatest president ever!

lmao at how most people so far are ignoring the bolded bit.

donegal__road · 07-02-2014 07:29PM

yes but most of those who are working are earning buttons.

Nemeses · 07-02-2014 07:31PM

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

I can't find my remote control! Where the hell is it?

It's behind the couch..

snubbleste · 07-02-2014 07:47PM

Where did all the unemployed go? Sure once your benefits are exhausted you are no longer a statistic..

Nino Brown · 07-02-2014 07:50PM

Look at the U-6 data, not that 6.6% BS

Fudge You · 07-02-2014 07:52PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Nice one Obama!

Obama, youre so fine, youre so fine, you blow my mind. Hey Obama! Hey Obama!

Obama, when you came and you gave without taking. And I sent you away. Obama! When you kissed me, and stopped me from shaking. But I sent you away. Obama.

You cant beat Randy!

KyussBishop · 07-02-2014 07:52PM

U6 Unemployment Rate (which is what Europe uses to determine unemployment - Irish figures you see in news are U6), is currently 12.7% for the US:
http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp

That's actually worse than Ireland.

Duck Soup · 07-02-2014 11:25PM

My name is URL wrote: »

lmao at how most people so far are ignoring the bolded bit.

You can look at the employment participation numbers from at least two widely different perspectives. Let's take the Democrat-Republican binary.

A Republican would say that (a) people don't want to work, (b) Obama's killed the entreprenurial spirit that creates jobs, so there are none to be had, (c) the unemployment assistance is too high and (d) too many pesky furriners tekkin all our jawbs.

A Democrat might say (a) unions have been dismantled, workers rights crushed so corporations now pay wages too low to live on, so why work, (b) the stimulus was pre-shrunk in committee and obstructed in practise, so what minor benefit it has had could have been amplified greatly with a bigger stimulus, (c) Republicans have historically been the champions of 'guest worker' programs, so they can get crops picked and harvested for pennies.

Personally, I'm going largely with the Democrat analysis. Jon Stewart had a superb rant the other night about how on the eve of Obama's first election victory, senior Republicans got together to hammer out how they were going to deny Obama any bi-partisan victories - in essence to say up when he said down and to deliberately crash the US economy to make Obama look bad.

Under the circumstances, faced with quite the most obstructionist and stupid House Republicans in history, I think Obama's done all right.

uch · 07-02-2014 11:28PM

Did I mention that I Like Cake ?

Get off my lawn! · 07-02-2014 11:33PM

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Regardless most ordinary Americans don't understand what the participation rate is, all they will see is the unemployment rate falling, which good news for the democrats for this years mid terms and thus should be shoo in.

This is total nonsense. The unemployment figures do not tell the whole story. The only people doing well right now are those in the top income bracket, and you can see this in consumer spending patterns.

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

If this keeps up Obama will go down as this generations FDR without a doubt. Mount rushmore beckons lol, if he can get the unemployment rate down to something like 3% (because thats the rate at which it is going by the time his term ends!), he'll probably go down as America's greatest president ever!

Unemployment will only reach 3% if a few million more people join the ranks of long-term disgruntled workers.

Deleted User wrote: »

He's the closest thing to an FDR in the modern age, with the stimulus and healthcare packages.

On the other hand, unemployment will never fall much below 5%, it's what economists call the "natural" rate of unemployment

Obama should not even be mentioned in the same breath as FDR, unless you are discussing party affiliation. :mad:

crockholm · 08-02-2014 12:30AM

Steaming pile of poo-poli's tossing poor and unemployed folks under a bus in an attempt to get re-elected. Many of your everyday folks hearing the same bs we hear in Ireland that it's getting better when all it is,is screwing around with numbers.

All but the top seem to be in a bit of a funk at the moment.It is however unreasonable to expect a politician not to try and make hay from some pos number.

This ain't about Obama,if it were a rep in the WH,the masses would be fed the same offal.

John Stewart as a source? About the same credibility as David Duke

RonnieRocket · 08-02-2014 12:39AM

It's worrying that some foolish people think that Jon Stewart's The Daily Show is a news program when it's actually a comedy. Reminds me of the Brass Eye episode where they claimed pedophiles have genetically more in common with crabs than humans. Gullible simpletons will swallow this satire and vote Obama.

moxin · 08-02-2014 12:46AM

Again as like over here, the jobs that are created are on lower pay. Americans average or even better median pay has actually lowered over the last few years when inflation is taken into account.

Guy:Incognito · 08-02-2014 12:54AM

snubbleste wrote: »

Where did all the unemployed go? Sure once your benefits are exhausted you are no longer a statistic..

The wood chipper.

Hande hoche! · 08-02-2014 12:59AM

RonnieRocket wrote: »

It's worrying that some foolish people think that Jon Stewart's The Daily Show is a news program when it's actually a comedy. Reminds me of the Brass Eye episode where they claimed pedophiles have genetically more in common with crabs than humans. Gullible simpletons will swallow this satire and vote Obama.

It is a bit unnerving, I have a friend who uses the Daily show as his main news source.

Chazz Michael Michaels · 08-02-2014 01:02AM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

He's the closest thing to an FDR in the modern age, with the stimulus and healthcare packages.

On the other hand, unemployment will never fall much below 5%, it's what economists call the "natural" rate of unemployment

It was 3.4% in Ireland, at one point.

Phoebas · 08-02-2014 01:27AM

As some other people have pointed out, the US have different ways of counting the figures than we do.
Somebody over on the Irish Economy forum the other day was saying that our unemployment figure was 25% - if you counted people who didn't really like their current job in the numbers.

Chazz Michael Michaels · 08-02-2014 02:07AM

Phoebas wrote: »

As some other people have pointed out, the US have different ways of counting the figures than we do.
Somebody over on the Irish Economy forum the other day was saying that our unemployment figure was 25% - if you counted people who didn't really like their current job in the numbers.

Sounds like the Irish Economy forum alright.

sabat · 08-02-2014 02:32AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Nice one Obama!

Gradually turning the screw on some things, I think he will leave a positive legacy overall despite the overwhelming obstruction by the Republicans.

Plus by not being TOO controversial (relative to Nixon, say, or W), he has paved the way for non-whites to be viable contenders for the US Presidency.

Obama is far to the right of Richard Nixon and I'm not exaggerating. Even Watergate was just a trivial matter compared to the NSA scandal.

donegal__road · 08-02-2014 02:40AM

according to the Social Security Administration, 40.28% of all workers make less than $20,000 a year in America today. So that means that more than 40% of all U.S. workers actually make less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968.

Duck Soup · 08-02-2014 02:42AM

I think Daily Show - and Colbert Report - viewers are well aware that the show is satire. They also know when Stewart's ripping someone a fresh one, even with a smile and a few jokes thrown in. What I like about Stewart is he doesn't aim for false equivalence - the "they're all as bad as each other" argument. They're not.

As he says himself, he's not party loyal - Stewart takes aim at stupidity from whatever quarter it comes. It's just that the clown car that's the modern Republican party just keeps delivering teh stupit. It's also worrying that in one survey Fox viewers were found to be less knowledgeable about current affairs than people who watch no news at all.

What's more worrying is that there's a sizeable section of the GOP that would rather crash the national economy into a wall than see Obama succeed in any regard. Obama's already let them know via the State of the Union address - and noticeably his spokespeople all repeat the same line - that if the Congress is going to continue to try to stall every bill and initiative, he'll get things done by executive order.

The problem for the Republicans is that they are held in such contempt as a brand, that circumventing idiots such as Cruz, Bachmann, Boehner, McConnell etc could prove to be very, very popular. Things that need to be done get done, the blockers become an irrelevance.

crockholm · 08-02-2014 03:18AM

Duck Soup wrote: »

I think Daily Show - and Colbert Report - viewers are well aware that the show is satire. They also know when Stewart's ripping someone a fresh one, even with a smile and a few jokes thrown in. What I like about Stewart is he doesn't aim for false equivalence - the "they're all as bad as each other" argument. They're not.

As he says himself, he's not party loyal - Stewart takes aim at stupidity from whatever quarter it comes. It's just that the clown car that's the modern Republican party just keeps delivering teh stupit. It's also worrying that in one survey Fox viewers were found to be less knowledgeable about current affairs than people who watch no news at all.

What's more worrying is that there's a sizeable section of the GOP that would rather crash the national economy into a wall than see Obama succeed in any regard. Obama's already let them know via the State of the Union address - and noticeably his spokespeople all repeat the same line - that if the Congress is going to continue to try to stall every bill and initiative, he'll get things done by executive order.

The problem for the Republicans is that they are held in such contempt as a brand, that circumventing idiots such as Cruz, Bachmann, Boehner, McConnell etc could prove to be very, very popular. Things that need to be done get done, the blockers become an irrelevance.

And you can choose to Believe that if you wish or you can actually critically look at any interveiw he has done over the last 10 years,those whom he shares a common ideology with are given a free ride- just shootin the breez don't ya know.

Or if it is an opponent to what he Believes in, Watch the serious journalist come out in him (bear in mind he also edits his own show)

Or the few times when he gets bested,he uses the next show to make a Point(soapboxing) relevant to the previous show,without the right to reply from his opponent of course

enfant terrible · 08-02-2014 03:22AM

crockholm wrote: »

Steaming pile of poo-poli's tossing poor and unemployed folks under a bus in an attempt to get re-elected. Many of your everyday folks hearing the same bs we hear in Ireland that it's getting better when all it is,is screwing around with numbers.

All but the top seem to be in a bit of a funk at the moment.It is however unreasonable to expect a politician not to try and make hay from some pos number.

This ain't about Obama,if it were a rep in the WH,the masses would be fed the same offal.

John Stewart as a source? About the same credibility as David Duke

Ya John Stewart's opinion of Republicans is about as useful as Sean Hannitiy's opinion of Democrats.

jank · 08-02-2014 03:25AM

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/07/us-economy-jobs-unemployment-rate

Ok lets get the bad news out the way, it was another poor jobs report for the US with only 113,000 jobs (expected to be 200,000, and the US would require that keep up with the pace of the population), the month before proved to only add an even more dismal 75,000 jobs.

Regardless the Unemployment rate in America is plummenting very fast. In decemeber it was 7%, then it declined sharply to 6.7% (by only adding 75,000 jobs? ) and today it has fallen to 6.6%. In all its fallen nearly 1.5% over the past year alone.

However the participation rate in the labor force is at its lowest since 1978. A shocking 62.8%. For example 347,000 people left the labor force in the month of december alone (if you give up looking for work you are not counted in the Unemployment statistics).

Regardless most ordinary Americans don't understand what the participation rate is, all they will see is the unemployment rate falling, which good news for the democrats for this years mid terms and thus should be shoo in.

If this keeps up Obama will go down as this generations FDR without a doubt. Mount rushmore beckons lol, if he can get the unemployment rate down to something like 3% (because thats the rate at which it is going by the time his term ends!), he'll probably go down as America's greatest president ever!

Yeah, another excuse to to rant at the GOP…

nagilum2 · 08-02-2014 03:26AM

My name is URL wrote: »

lmao at how most people so far are ignoring the bolded bit.

Indeed. The old, reduce the denominator trick. I can make Ireland's unemployment figures look great I reduce the pull out all the people who have been on the dole for more than 12 months (which is what the US actually does).

The economy in the US sucks and has gone nowhere for years, and no Prada-esque style misleading unemployment statistics can hide the truth on the ground.

Amazing how some will interpret this as good news, because they like a politician??

This chart takes into account the changes that politicians made to the unemployment stat figures in 1994, and shows what the unemployment rate would be if that politically driven change hadn't been made (ans, more than 20%!): http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts

The US unemployment rate is plummeting (now 6.6%!)

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