You’ve probably heard by now that the nation’s employers added 155,000 jobs in December. The New York Times says it, so it must be true.
The unemployment rate for December held at 7.8 percent, the same as in November, after the rate was adjusted up from the initial report of 7.7 percent.
“It’s not a home-run report by any stretch, but it’s constructive,” the paper quotes John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics, as saying. “It’s another month of fairly stable, solid, moderate job creation.” Story does concede that at the current pace of job growth, it would take seven years to get the unemployment rate back to where it was when the recession began in December 2007.
Let’s go to the source.
Here is a portion of one of the charts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics today:
December jobs stats, not seasonally adjusted.
As you can see, from November to December, the population grew but the labor force shrank, the number of employed fell, the number of unemployed grew, and the unemployment rate ticked up. Just thought you’d like to know.
As long as Congress keeps us in uncertainty, industry and the wealthy will sit on their wads of cash. The middle class will be afraid to spend. A clear plan would help, but the middle class has less money relative to the rich than at any time since 1928. Don’t expect them to spend more anytime soon. Maybe it’ll trickle down in a decade or two.
Not bad Rincon right on up to the middle class spending. Our stuff is wearing out and we will need to replace it at some point in time.
How about the government butting out of keeping jobs numbers? At one time an individual getting a job was his or her business and that of their employer, now it’s a credit to the president and his policies?? Congress doesn’t keep us in uncertainty, the president and his propaganda machinery, the mainstream media, does that. Members of the Congress are so busy attempting to make themselves relevant they have little time to concern themselves with average citizens. My first job was on a farm, FDR didn’t take credit for that, probably no one except me and farmer Harry Ford cared that I shoveled manure and pitched hay for him. I think there’s child labor laws now that could close him down and perhaps jail him but on the other hand it would be a statistic on the plus side for employment in the summer time.
And if Harry Ford went to jail, he could collect unemployment benefits like those 67 guys in the Nevada prison system did last year.
Just one more thing from government that you can’t believe.
What a shock.
I agree with Vernon. How dare the government maintain employment data! It is an invasion of our privacy and a threat to our precious bodily fluids!
Inaccurate data is as good as no data at all, in fact most times it is actually worse than no data at all. If the data must be “revised” then preliminary “data” should not be released at all. Wait for accurate numbers, then report.
If the government is to “maintain” employment data then it should at the very least be accurate.
We tech people have a saying, garbage in garbage out. Thanks for once again proving it.
Private enterprise is free to find and publish that information. Note that Thomas had no trouble finding the relevant material from a government source. I beleive the government supplies accurate and complete information for all to see. The media decides how to present it to the public. You will find Fox News reporting different from that of MSNBC. Both select different information depending on which party benefits.