Category Archives: Employment

US Labor Dept. May 2012 employment data, June 1, 2012, Long term unemployed rose .3 million, Involuntary part-time workers 8.1 million, March April increases revised down

Posted on June 1, 2012 | 111 comments

US Labor Dept. May 2012 employment data, June 1, 2012, Long term unemployed rose .3 million, Involuntary part-time workers 8.1 million, March April increases revised down

“We’ve added back more than 4.2 million private sector jobs and seen 26 straight months of job growth—but there’s more work to do.”…Obama Truth Team

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984”

Forget the unemployment rate, which is not going down and is grossly understated. Read today’s, June 1, 2012, Employment Situation report from the US Labor Department and look at the data.

“THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — MAY 2012
Nonfarm payroll employment changed little in May (+69,000), and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade but declined in construction. Employment was little changed in most other major
industries.

Household Survey Data

Both the number of unemployed persons (12.7 million) and the unemployment rate (8.2 percent) changed little in May. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.8 percent) and Hispanics (11.0 percent) edged up in May, while the rates for adult women (7.4 percent), teenagers (24.6 percent), whites (7.4 percent), and blacks (13.6 percent) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 5.2 percent in May (not seasonally adjusted), down from 7.0 percent a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose from 5.1 to 5.4 million in May. These individuals accounted for 42.8 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate increased in May by 0.2 percentage point to 63.8 percent, offsetting a decline of the same amount in April. The employment-population ratio edged up to 58.6 percent in May. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) edged up to 8.1 million over the month. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

In May, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, up from 2.2 million a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 830,000 discouraged workers in May, about the same as a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.6 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in May had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment changed little in May (+69,000), following a similar change in April (+77,000). In comparison, the average monthly gain was 226,000 in the first quarter of the year. In May, employment rose in health care, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade, while construction lost jobs. (See table B-1.)

Health care employment continued to increase in May (+33,000). Within the industry, employment in ambulatory health care services, which includes offices of physicians and outpatient care centers, rose by 23,000 over the month. Over the year, health care employment has risen by 340,000.

Transportation and warehousing added 36,000 jobs over the month. Employment gains in transit and ground passenger transportation (+20,000) and in couriers and messengers (+5,000) followed job losses in those industries in April. Employment in both industries has shown little net change over the year. In May, truck transportation added 7,000 jobs.

Employment in wholesale trade rose by 16,000 over the month. Since reaching an employment low in May 2010, this industry has added 184,000 jobs.

Manufacturing employment continued to trend up in May (+12,000) following a similar change in April (+9,000). Job gains averaged 41,000 per month in the first quarter of this year. In May, employment rose in fabricated metal products (+6,000) and in primary metals (+4,000). Since its most recent low in January 2010, manufacturing employment has increased by 495,000.

Construction employment declined by 28,000 in May, with job losses occurring in specialty trade contractors (-18,000) and in heavy and civil engineering construction (-11,000).
Since reaching a low in January 2011, employment in construction has shown little change on net.

Employment in professional and business services was essentially unchanged in May. Since the most recent low point in September 2009, employment in this industry has grown by 1.4 million. In May, job losses in accounting and bookkeeping services (-14,000) and in services to buildings and dwellings (-14,000) were offset by small gains elsewhere in the industry.

Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, retail trade, information, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and government, changed little in May.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours in May. The manufacturing workweek declined by 0.3 hour to 40.5 hours, and factory overtime declined by 0.1 hour to 3.2 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.7 hours.
(See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In May, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 2 cents to $23.41. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.7 percent. In May, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees edged down by 1 cent to $19.70. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for March was revised from +154,000 to +143,000, and the change for April was revised from +115,000 to +77,000.”

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Notice

Inserted at the end:

“The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for March was revised from +154,000 to +143,000, and the change for April was revised from +115,000 to +77,000.”

Also important:

“The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose from 5.1 to 5.4 million in May.”

“The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) edged up to 8.1 million over the month. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.”

“In May, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, up from 2.2 million a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.”

111 Comments

Posted in Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Government, Jobs, Labor Department, News, Obama, Obama administration, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , , ,

NC unemployment rate declines, Drop in labor force big reason, 9.4 percent, WRAL honest report, NC employment among worst in nation

Posted on May 18, 2012 | 31 comments

NC unemployment rate declines, Drop in labor force big reason, 9.4 percent, WRAL honest report, NC employment among worst in nation

“The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.”…NY Times Sept. 20, 2010.

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

My hat is off to WRAL for this honest report.

From WRAL May 18, 2012.

“NC unemployment rate continues slow decline”

“People leaving the labor force were a big reason that North Carolina’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent in April, a month when only 1,400 more people got jobs.

The rate dropped from 9.7 percent in March and a percentage point from April a year ago, according to the figures from the state Division of Labor and Economic Analysis. The rate was stuck at 10.7 percent from July to September, then started a slow decline in October.

More than 11,000 people left the labor force in April compared to May, the figures show. More than 21,000 people have joined the North Carolina labor force since April a year ago.

“The bulk cause of this is the labor force decreased,” division spokesman Larry Parker said of the monthly decrease.

People leave the labor force for many reasons, he said: They quit looking for work; they retire; or they might move. The decrease isn’t related to the demise of extended benefits, which ended last week for about 17,000 people, he said.

The number of unemployed decreased by 12,686 to 439,368 over the month, while the number of employed increased by 1,471 to more than 4.2 million over the month and by 63,513 over the year.

North Carolina’s unemployment continues to be higher than the national rate, which fell slightly to 8.1 percent in April.”

Read more:

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/11116713/

The mainstream media has misrepresented the unemployment rate and misportrayed the impact of the Labor Force Participation Rate in the US employment numbers.

From Citizen Wells May 9, 2012.

“The Washington Post on May 4, 2012 posted a very misleading article titled “The incredible shrinking labor force.” Is this another example of sloppy or biased journalism or both?”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/washington-post-misrepresents-labor-force-participation-rate-unemployment-rate-blamed-on-baby-boomers-selective-quoting-post-receives-4-orwells/

31 Comments

Posted in Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Employment, Government, Jobs, NC, News, North Carolina, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment

Tagged , , , ,

Obama economy and performance buoyed by NPR and biased media, Washington Post aka Times of “1984” misleads public, Time Magazine, NPR receives 4 Orwells

Posted on May 10, 2012 | 178 comments

Obama economy and performance buoyed by NPR and biased media, Washington Post aka Times of “1984” misleads public, Time Magazine, NPR receives 4 Orwells

“If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world but I am sure we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast.”… William Tecumseh Sherman

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”…Joseph Goebbels

“As soon as all the corrections which happened to be necessary in any particular number of the Times had been assembled and collated, that number would be reprinted, the original copy destroyed, and the corrected copy placed on the files in it’s stead. This process of continuation alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound tracks, cartoons, photographs–to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to be correct; nor was any item of news, or expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to be on record.”…George Orwell, “1984″ 

From Larry Elder May 10, 2012.

“Elder: Obama-Loving Media Spin the Economy”


“National Public Radio’s Kai Ryssdal recently talked about the weak economy. His guests, two reporters from The Washington Post and The New York Times, acknowledged the obvious — that the economy is underperforming.

Yet, in the 20 minutes of my sitting and listening in the car in bad Los Angeles traffic, I heard no one mention the words “President Barack Obama.”

Time magazine, in a cover story on the economy, called the current economic recovery a “97-pound weakling.” It informs us that our sluggish economy is now driven by broad, virtually uncontrollable worldwide economic trends. Only once in this lengthy article did Time mention Obama — and only to say that Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney “plans to use the economy as a hammer against President Obama.”

That’s it. The President, Mr. Hope-and-Change, you see, is powerless to do anything about the economy. None of that “the buck stops here” stuff for him.

Investor’s Business Daily writes that our neighbor up north sees things differently: “The Obama administration and its economic czars have flailed about for years, baffled about how to get the U.S. economy growing. In reality, the president need look no further than our neighbor, Canada, whose solid growth is the product of tax cuts, fiscal discipline, free trade and energy development. That’s made Canada a roaring puma nation, while its supposedly more powerful southern neighbor stands on the outside looking in.”

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said: “Creating jobs and growth in our economy is our top propriety. … We are creating the conditions for businesses to successfully compete in the global economy by investing in Canada and creating jobs and growth for all Canadians. Through our government’s low-tax plan … we are continuing to send the message that Canada is open for business and the best place to invest.”

What about the economies of our 50 states? If Obama is powerless to do anything about the economy, surely the states alone are at least as impotent?

But low-tax states outperform high-tax states. Seven states have no personal income taxes (PIT) — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Two states tax only income on interest and dividends — New Hampshire and Tennessee. The average state and local revenue growth of these nine states from 2000 to 2009 was 81.53 percent.

Average revenue growth in the nine states with the highest PIT rates — Ohio, Maine, Maryland, Vermont, New Jersey, California, Oregon, Hawaii and New York — was 44.88 percent. Similarly, gross state product growth from 2001 to 2010 averaged 58.54 percent in the nine states with no PIT versus 42.06 in the nine states with the highest PIT rates.

Remember, our leftist president once told ABC’s Charlie Gibson that he wants to raise capital gains taxes — even though Obama conceded that historically higher capital taxes lead to less revenue. Then why raise rates at all, asked Gibson. “For purposes of fairness,” said then-Sen. Obama.

This is a president determined to “spread the wealth” to deal with “the gap” between the top 1 percent and the bottom 99 percent. To the Occupy Wall Street protestors, this is a president who said, “You are the reason I ran for office.” This is a president who said, “I do think at some point you’ve made enough money.”

This is a president who blames the Wall Street/housing meltdown on greed. As the see-no-Obama-on-the-economy Time magazine article puts it: “We got into the housing mess because we used our homes like ATMs to cover up the fact that neither incomes nor jobs have grown as much as they should have in the past two decades. It was a myth we all bought into, from the policymakers who pushed the idea of an ownership society fueled by debt to interest-rate-lowering central bankers who kept the music playing to individuals who took the mortgages they knew they couldn’t afford.”

This is the Obama version of events. Greed. Lack of oversight. Government policy had nothing to do with it. Banks just suddenly and for no reason started lending money to people they knew could not afford their mortgages.

Time magazine makes no mention about the central role played by laws like the Community Reinvestment Act. Nothing about the government-built and government-supported behemoths Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which changed the rules so that “underrepresented” borrowers could buy a home, too. The government told lenders to lend to high-risk borrowers — or else. What, or else? The government actually threatened fines and held up prudent bank mergers if one or both sides did not sufficiently “lend” to borrowers who, under normal circumstances, failed to qualify.

NPR, however, took the pretzel-twisting in defense of Obama to an even higher level. When the disappointing first quarter numbers came in, NPR’s Scott Neuman actually asked this question: “Common sense says high growth rates are good and slower, more modest ones are not so good. But is that always the case? After all, the ‘irrational exuberance’ of the early 2000s helped bring on the recession, as people borrowed and spent their way to prosperity.”

So bad economic news is actually good economic news. Four more years!”

http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/2012/05/10/elder-obama-loving-media-spin-the-economy/?subscriber=1

NPR receives 4 Orwells.

The Washington Post received 4 Orwells yesterday for their ongoing inaccurate and biased reporting.

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/washington-post-misrepresents-labor-force-participation-rate-unemployment-rate-blamed-on-baby-boomers-selective-quoting-post-receives-4-orwells/

 

178 Comments

Posted in 1984, 2009 Stimulus Bill, Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Government, Jobs, Journalism, Lies, media, News, NPR, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Orwell, Orwellian, Presidential candidate, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, US economy, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , ,

Washington Post misrepresents Labor Force Participation Rate, Unemployment rate blamed on Baby Boomers, Selective quoting, Post receives 4 Orwells

Posted on May 9, 2012 | 110 comments

Washington Post misrepresents Labor Force Participation Rate, Unemployment rate blamed on Baby Boomers, Selective quoting, Post receives 4 Orwells

“The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.”…NY Times Sept. 20, 2010.

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984”

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

The Washington Post on May 4, 2012 posted a very misleading article titled “The incredible shrinking labor force.” Is this another example of sloppy or biased journalism or both?

First the graph they presented with a source given of Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The verbage in the top right corner looked suspicious, “As the most recent recession hits the workforce, larger numbers of baby boomers begin to retire.” Yesterday I called the Bureau of Labor Statistics and discovered that they had not placed those words there. It was the work of the Washington Post.

So why did the Post superimpose that wording about baby boomers on the graph?

From the article.

“In April, the U.S. economy added a mere 115,000 jobs, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday. In a normal month, that would not even be enough to keep up with new entrants into the labor market. But in this economy, it was enough to drive unemployment from 8.2 percent down to 8.1 percent, the lowest point since January 2009.

The explanation is a little-watched measure known as the “labor force participation rate.” That tracks the number of working-age Americans who are holding a job or looking for one. Between March and April, it dropped by 342,000. But because the official unemployment rate counts only those workers who are actively seeking work, that actually made the unemployment rate go down.

Critics of the Obama administration have been quick to seize on this as the real reason for the falling unemployment rate. In February, the Republican National Committee released a research note on “The Missing Worker,” arguing that “over 3 million unemployed workers have called it quits due to Obamanomics.”

Economists say the story is considerably more complicated. For one thing, the trend predates President Obama. And while part of the story is clearly that the labor force is shrinking because the bad economy is driving workers out, another significant factor is that baby boomers are beginning to retire early — a trend that has worrying implications for future growth.”
“But a number of economists are arguing that the recession is distracting people from the real story — long-run demographic trends that have nothing to do with the current economy. Baby boomers are starting to retire en masse, which means that there are fewer eligible American workers.”

“But since 2000, the labor force rate has been steadily declining as the baby-boom generation has been retiring. Because of this, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago expects the labor force participation rate to be lower in 2020 than it is today, regardless of how well the economy does.”

“But the other 65 percent are people who have left the labor force and do not want a job. The biggest chunk of that group seems to be composed of baby boomers, those 55 and older, who have decided to retire early.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-incredible-shrinking-labor-force/2012/05/04/gIQANXAy1T_blog.html?hpid=z1

There are some truths, half truths and lies mixed together in this article. Apparently the government does expect the aging baby boomers to impact job numbers more by 2020.

However, the article was crafted to give the impression that baby boomers are a big reason for the declining Labor Force Participation Rate now.

Two government sources reveal that is false.

From the Congressional Budget Office January 2012.

“Participation in the Labor Force. The unemployment rate would be even higher than it is now had participation in the labor force not declined as much as it has over the past few years. The rate of participation in the labor force fell from 66 percent in 2007 to an average of 64 percent in the second half of 2011, an unusually large decline over so short a time. About a third of that decline reflects factors other than the downturn, such as the aging of the baby-boom generation. But even with those factors removed, the estimated decline in that rate during the past four years is larger than has been typical of past
downturns, even after accounting for the greater severity of this downturn. Had that portion of the decline in the labor force participation rate since 2007 that is attributable to neither the aging of the baby boomers nor the downturn in the business cycle (on the basis of the experience in previous downturns) not occurred, the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2011 would have been about 1¼ percentage points higher than the actual rate of 8.7 percent.”

http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/01-31-2012_Outlook.pdf

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics January 2012.

Monthly Labor Review, Employment Outlook 2012 – 2012.

“In contrast to the factors exerting downward pressure on labor force participation rates, at least two factors have been responsible for strengthening the rates, although not enough to offset the factors pulling them down:
•
The labor force participation rate of the 55-years-and-older age group has increased considerably since 1996. In 2000, the rate was 32.4 percent; a decade later, in 2010, it had risen significantly, to 40.2 percent. (See table 3.) BLS projects that the labor force participation rate of those 55 years and older will reach 43.0 percent in 2020. The continued gradual increase in the labor force participation rate of this age group, multiplied by the sheer number of baby boomers in the group, is expected to partially compensate for the multiple other factors pushing the rate to lower levels and is expected to keep it from declining even further in the future.”

http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2012/01/mlr201201.pdf

For this sloppy and/or misleading article, the Washington Post receives 4 Orwells.

110 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Government, Jobs, Lies, News, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Orwell, Orwellian, Presidential candidate, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, United States, US economy, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , ,

Obama jobs added and unemployment rate truth, Labor force participation plummeted, Skews unemployement rate, Historic drop in labor force, Orwellian spin continues

Posted on May 4, 2012 | 91 comments

Obama jobs added and unemployment rate truth, Labor force participation plummeted, Skews unemployement rate, Historic drop in labor force, Orwellian spin continues

“The unemployment rate would be even higher than it is now had participation in the labor force not declined as much as it has over the past few years. The rate of participation in the labor force fell from 66 percent in 2007 to an average of 64 percent in the second half of 2011, an unusually large decline over so short a time. About a third of that decline reflects factors other than the downturn, such as the aging of the baby-boom generation.

But even with those factors removed, the estimated decline in that rate during the past four years is larger than has been typical of past downturns, even after accounting for the greater severity of this downturn. Had that portion of the decline in the labor force participation rate since 2007 that is attributable to neither the aging of the baby boomers nor the downturn in the business cycle (on the basis of the experience in previous downturns) not occurred, the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2011 would have been about 1¼ percentage points higher than the actual rate of 8.7 percent.”…Congressional Budget Office

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

With my math and computer science background and awareness of Orwellian wordsmithing by the Obama camp, I couldn’t help but notice what is going on with jobs and unemployment reporting. Another huge clue has been the emphasis from the mainstream media, i.e., “The lady doth protest too much me thinkst.”

Obama continues to tout the jobs being created without ackowledging the jobs lost. However, the biggest bit of Orwellian spin is referencing a drop in the unemployment rate and ignoring a historic drop in the labor force participation rate.

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 4, 2012.

“Both the number of unemployed persons (12.5 million) and the unemployment
rate (8.1 percent) changed little in April.”
“The civilian labor force participation rate declined in April to 63.6 percent,
while the employment-population ratio, at 58.4 percent, changed little.”

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

A labor force participation rate of 63.6 percent is significant.

Reported at Citizen Wells on April 26, 2012.

Labor force participation: The share of adults in the labor force — either looking or working — has dropped 3% — also highly unusual in a recovery. At 63.7%,
labor force participation is at a low not seen since the middle of the very deep 1981-82 recession, when fewer women were in the work force. A lower
participation rate makes the unemployment rate look better.

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/obama-and-democrats-created-high-unemployment-and-blame-bush-and-others-obama-inherited-2-years-of-a-democrat-controlled-congress-unemployemt-and-gas-prices-began-climb-in-jan-2007/

The labor force participation rate was 66 percent in 2007 when the Democrats took control of Congress.

From the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco November 2, 2007.

“the current consensus forecast among government agencies is that labor force participation will level off at around 66% and stay flat for the foreseeable future.”

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2007/el2007-33.html

The labor force participation is 63.6 percent!

And jobs added, that is net jobs added.

Set your Orwell decoder ring to the proper settings.

From the Washington Post September 7, 2011.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/jobs-lost-jobs-gained/2011/09/07/gIQA1ZlYAK_graphic.html

 

91 Comments

Posted in 2009 Stimulus Bill, Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Congress, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Government, Jobs, media, News, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama taxes, Orwellian, Presidential candidate, The Case Against Barack Obama, US economy, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , ,

Unemployment May 4, 2012, Unemployment claims revised upward, 4 week moving average 383500, April private sector jobs plummeted, Real unemployment rate?

Posted on May 4, 2012 | 29 comments

Unemployment May 4, 2012, Unemployment claims revised upward, 4 week moving average 383500, April private sector jobs plummeted, Real unemployment rate?

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984”

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

The stated unemployment rate is 8.1%.

What is the real unemployment rate?

Further analysis of this is forthcoming.

Here is what we know:

Unemployment claims get reported and then revised upward. The recent report was changed to 392,000 from the prior week’s reported 388,000.

The 4 week moving average has gone up the past several weeks. It is now 383,500.

Private sector employment increased by 119,000 jobs in April instead of the forecasted 170,000.

Many individuals, discouraged by the dismal jobs picture, have left the job market.

What ever the stated unemployment rate is, the real unemployment rate is significantly higher.

High school and college graduates, about to enter the full time job market, face dismal prospects. Though they have been counted by the Labor Department (I just verified this), they will still add millions to those seeking full time employment.

“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his fellow policymakers at the central bank have expressed worry that the employment picture ahead is likely to be weak”…CNBC May 2, 2012.

Rush Limbaugh continues to state that the unemployment rate will be manipulated to benefit Obama. Anything over 8 % is considered lethal to his reelection.

29 Comments

Posted in 2009 Stimulus Bill, Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Financial crisis, Government, Jobs, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama taxes, Presidential candidate, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , , ,

Obama lies work on UNC students?, UNC student health care increase, Tuition increase, High unemployment, Obama uses Orwellian language to sway students, Occupy White House?

Posted on May 2, 2012 | 141 comments

Obama lies work on UNC students?, UNC student health care increase, Tuition increase, High unemployment, Obama uses Orwellian language to sway students, Occupy White House?

“What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending – that’s the whole point! Seriously.”…Barack Obama

“…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”…Margaret Thatcher

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

God works in mysterious ways.

Obama and the Democrats will have their convention in Charlotte, NC.

Obama spoke recently at UNC, The University of NC, and presented more of his Orwellian lies about education costs and helping students.

Obama and the Democrats have a problem in NC.

UNC system schools recently announced tuition increases.

The unemployment rate in NC is among the highest in the nation. Those about to  graduate face bleak prospects.

And despite Obama’s lies about Obama Care reducing the cost of health care, UNC students just found out that their health care insurance is increasing significantly.

From the Charlotte Observer May 1, 2012.

“UNC system health insurance costs to rise for students

Students in the system’s plan may pay $500 to $700 more”

“The UNC system began requiring students to be covered by health insurance in the fall of 2010. Students must either prove that they have their own insurance or buy a plan offered by the UNC system. Before that, 11 campuses required insurance; rates and coverage varied significantly among the schools.

On top of rising tuition and fees, those UNC system students who buy the university-sponsored health insurance plan will face steep premium increases in the next academic year.

The cost of health insurance will climb from a range of $61 to $77 monthly to a range of $118 to $133 monthly, according to a memo sent from UNC President Tom Ross to the UNC Board of Governors. On an annual basis, most students will pay about $500 to $700 more in 2012-13, depending on the campus.

The percentage increases aren’t yet known for all campuses, because some have not chosen the level of coverage they will offer, said Bruce Mallette, UNC vice president for academic and student affairs. The annual student cost will climb 66 percent at N.C. Central University and 60 percent at UNC-Chapel Hill; the cost at N.C. State has not been finalized, Mallette said.

Notification of the rate increases will go out this week, just as students finish exams and leave campus for the summer. The news will sting.

“A lot of students are going to be very surprised by this and at a loss for what to do, especially on such short notice for the next semester,” said Kate Davis Jones, a UNC-CH junior from Raleigh who is still on her parents’ insurance. “I think it’s going to cause a lot of students to be boxed out of their education if they’re not able to afford the mandated health insurance.”

Jones said plenty of her classmates will feel blindsided, months after the UNC board set tuition and fee rates for next year, with average price increases of 8.8 percent for in-state undergraduates across the UNC system. The tuition and fee hikes are 8.5 percent at NCCU, 9.8 percent at NCSU and 9.9 percent at UNC-CH for the coming academic year.

Claims drive up costs

Mallette said the insurance increases are due to the health care usage of UNC system students during the past couple of years, plus federal regulations on preventive care and pharmacy services issued in March. The process is complicated, he said, by the new provisions of the Affordable Care Act.”

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/01/3210536/unc-health-insurance-costs-to.html

Oh, and their beloved Apple Computer Company has just been outed for avoiding paying taxes.

Not a good year for UNC students, NC and the country.

There should be a Occupy White House movement.

141 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Employment, Health Insurance, Healthcare bill, Lies, NC, News, North Carolina, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Orwellian, Presidential candidate, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, US economy, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , , ,

ADP private sector employment well below forecasts, 119000 vs 170000 forecast, March number revised downward, Friday payroll and employment rate may be worse than expected

Posted on May 2, 2012 | 23 comments

ADP private sector employment well below forecasts, 119000 vs 170000 forecast, March number revised downward, Friday payroll and employment rate may be worse than expected

“What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending – that’s the whole point! Seriously.”…Barack Obama

“…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”…Margaret Thatcher

“New, more-accurate estimates show North Carolina’s unemployment rate stayed above 10 percent throughout 2011, falling to 10.2 percent in January in a key election battleground state, the state Commerce Department reported today.”…Greensboro News Record March 14, 2012

From CNBC May 2, 2012.

“Private Sector Adds Just 119,000 Jobs in April: ADP”

“Private-sector employment increased by just 119,000 in April, according a report from ADP that puts a dent into the notion that the jobs market is on the path to a solid recovery.

The report was well below forecasts of 170,000 and comes after a string of stronger numbers.

ADP said service-sector jobs rose by 123,000, but construction fell by 5,000, falling for the first time since September 2011. Manufacturing also lost 5,000, while goods-producing dropped 4,000. Financial services added 13,000 jobs.

The March number was revised downward from 209,000 to 201,000, according to the report, which is done in conjunction with Macroeconomic Advisors.”

“The ADP, then, could be a signal that the payrolls report and the accompanying unemployment rate , due this Friday, could be worse than the expected 168,000. March’s Bureau of Labor Statistics number also was soft, coming in at just 120,000. The report comes as weekly jobless claims have been on a steady trek higher as well.

At the same time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his fellow policymakers at the central bank have expressed worry that the employment picture ahead is likely to be weak.

“Today’s miss on the ADP number confirms a broader slowdown in activity more in-line with what the ISM regional data showed earlier in the week and corroborating Bernanke’s hypothesis that the fourth-quarter labor market improvement represented a snapback and that the journey out of the financial crisis is likely to remain arduous,” said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak in New York.

“That in turn requires the Fed to keep its shoulder to the wheel and maintain downwards pressure on yields and the balance sheet wider than the Grand Canyon,” he added.

Carlos Rodriguez, president of ADP, said the April numbers are consistent with the first-quarter gross domestic product growth of 2.2 percent, which also was well below economists’ projections and primarily reflected a cutback in government spending.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47260289

 

23 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Employment, Government, Jobs, News, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , ,

Obama News April 30, 2012, Economics 101 companies do not pay taxes, Consumers pay in higher prices job cuts and reduced pay, US economy slowdown caused by Obama taxes and policies

Posted on April 29, 2012 | 38 comments

Obama News April 30, 2012, Economics 101 companies do not pay taxes, Consumers pay in higher prices job cuts and reduced pay, US economy slowdown caused by Obama taxes and policies

“What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending – that’s the whole point! Seriously.”…Barack Obama

“…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”…Margaret Thatcher

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

Citizen Wells has been writing for some time about the impact of high gas prices and taxation on the economy. One of the most important ideas presented here is the fact that companies do not pay taxes, consumers do.

From Citizen Wells April 3, 2012.

“First, the corporate tax rate in the US is near or at the top in the world.

US oil companies pay enormous amounts of taxes. How does this compare to one of Obama’s pay to play buddies GE? Check this out for yourself.

Here is the really important point about raising taxes on oil companies and other companies.

Companies (corporations, LLC’s, partnerships, sole proprietors) do not pay taxes!

Consumers pay for the tax increases.

Taxes are part of the cost of doing business.

A tax increase to a company results in some combination of the following:

Product and service price increases.

Employee and hours cutbacks.

Reduced hiring.

Does any of this sound familiar?”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/obama-lies-on-oil-companies-taxes-profits-and-impact-on-consumers-obama-energy-policy-based-on-chicago-pay-to-play-politics-truth-team-notification/

Here is another example.

From McClatchy News April 27, 2012.

“Weak growth of U.S. economy in first quarter renews fears of stalled recovery”

“The U.S. economy’s weaker-than-expected growth in the first three months of this year renewed concerns Friday that the nation’s fragile recovery might stall. ”
“The real disappointment in Friday’s report was a drop in business fixed investment of 2.1 percent and in spending on business structures of a whopping 12 percent. Spending on equipment was up by only a weak 1.7 percent, which partly reflects the end of a tax break for business investment last year.”

““I think what it says is consumers are coming back a bit, but firms are still holding back. They don’t feel confident enough in the recovery to start adding to capacity” and expanding, said Bill Craighead, an economics professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. Consumers appear to be making up for cautious spending in recent years, more confident that the worst is over, he suggested.

The same can’t be said for American businesses.

“Given corporate profits, you might have hoped for more investment growth,” Craighead said. The economy continues to “hit the snooze button. … It’s acceptable growth in the normal economy, but given how many people are unemployed it is disappointing.””

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/04/27/146970/us-economy-slows-to-22-percent.html

From McClatchy News April 23, 2012.

“U.S. economy faces likely slowdown, big year-end decisions”

“The U.S. economy is expected to slow later this year, dragged down by slowing global growth, rising anxiety about the elections and the specter of gridlock in Washington over urgent tax, spending and debt deadlines. The Bush-era tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 and the payroll tax cut of the past two years expire at year’s end, when last year’s debt deal also will force across-the-board cuts in federal spending unless Congress and the president strike new deals, but there’s no consensus on that.

A spate of recent indicators punctuated fears that the economy is stalling. March delivered only 120,000 new jobs, and the latest manufacturing and real estate data softened. Some economists say the economy’s strong six-month run through March might not be sustainable.

“If we’re right and growth was overstated in the first quarter and we see payback in the second and third quarters of this year, then it’s going to raise a lot of questions of just how much progress we’ve made over the past few years,” said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, N.C.”

“Recent U.S. data have been discouraging for what remains the world’s largest economy.

In the two weeks after the April 6 release of the weak March employment numbers, first-time jobless claims rose. The Labor Department said last Thursday that the four-week average for unemployment claims stood at 374,750 _ the highest since January.

Additionally, the job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported earlier this month that employers announced 9.4 percent more layoffs in the first three months of this year than the same period last year. Last year’s numbers, however, were the smallest number of layoffs since 1995.

It all points to slower hiring.

“Were we on the verge of a breakout? I think the answer is no,” said Kevin Logan, the chief U.S. economist for the global bank HSBC.

Noting that the economy is adding jobs in a monthly range of 100,000 to 200,000, Logan expects hiring to bump along the bottom. “The next few months, we’ll fall back into this slower pattern,” he said, adding that several drivers of the U.S. economy remain impaired.

Chief among them is the moribund housing market, which remains mired in a foreclosure crisis. What little housing is moving in many major U.S. cities is foreclosure sales and short-sales, dragging down home prices and erasing the potential wealth of neighbors.”

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/04/23/v-print/146393/us-economy-faces-likely-slowdown.html

 

38 Comments

Posted in 2009 Stimulus Bill, Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Deficit, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, News, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama taxes, Presidential candidate, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, US economy, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , ,

Obama and Democrats created high unemployment and blame Bush and others, Obama inherited 2 years of a Democrat controlled Congress, Unemployment and gas prices began climb in Jan 2007

Posted on April 26, 2012 | 56 comments

Obama and Democrats created high unemployment and blame Bush and others, Obama inherited 2 years of a Democrat controlled Congress, Unemployment and gas prices began climb in Jan 2007

“What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending – that’s the whole point! Seriously.”…Barack Obama

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I, therefore, intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt.”…Barack Obama

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

The catalyst for this article came several days ago after a brief conversation with a young college student. It is my understanding that this young man is not a Obama supporter. However he believed that unemployment had gone down since Obama took office. I enlightened him.

Citizen Wells began quoting George Orwell early in 2008 for a reason. Obama, in concert with the mainstream media, has been telling non stop lies. One of the constant themes of lies has to do with the Obama stimulus bill and job creation and unemployment.

There has been much debate about whether or not Obama promised that the stimulus bill would keep unemployment at a maximum of 8 percent or not. It does not matter. Obama stated that the stimulus would save and create jobs and the following graph from a report prepared by Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein shows unemployment staying below 8 percent with the implementation of Obama’s stimulus bill.

The Washington Post has more on this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/business/unemployment-predictions/

From Investors Business Daily February 17, 2012.

“Obama Stimulus Turns Three: What Has It Achieved?”

“Without any fanfare whatsoever from the White House, February 17 marks the three-year anniversary of the day President Obama signed the much ballyhooed stimulus into law.

At the time, Obama claimed that it would “create or save” up to 3.5 million jobs, and that “a new wave of innovation, activity and construction will be unleashed across America.” The stimulus, would, he promised””ignite spending by businesses and consumers” and bring “real and lasting change for generations to come.”

So three years later, how do the stimulus results stack up? Here’s where various indicators stood in or around February 2009, and where they stand today.

Unemployment rate: The jobless rate is unchanged from February 2009 to January 2012, the latest month for which we have data. Both stood at 8.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Obama’s economists had initially predicted that with the stimulus, unemployment would stay below 8%.

Number of long-term unemployed: The number of workers who have been unable to find a job in 27 months or more has shot up 83%, with their ranks now at 5.5 million.

Civilian labor force: It has shrunk by 126,000. In past recoveries, the labor force climbed an average of more than 3 million over comparable time periods.

Labor force participation: The share of adults in the labor force — either looking or working — has dropped 3% — also highly unusual in a recovery. At 63.7%, labor force participation is at a low not seen since the middle of the very deep 1981-82 recession, when fewer women were in the work force. A lower participation rate makes the unemployment rate look better.

Household income: Median annual household income is about 7% below where it was in February 2009, according to the Sentier Research Household Income Index.

National debt: Up $4.5 trillion, or 41%, according to the Treasury Department’s monthly reports. The latest Treasury figures put the national debt at $15.4 trillion, larger than the entire U.S. economy.

Deficits: The deficit for fiscal year 2009 totaled $1.4 trillion. The Obama administration’s proposed deficit for 2012 is $1.3 trillion, which would mark the fourth year of deficits topping $1 trillion.

Gross Domestic Product: Real GDP has climbed just 6% between Q1 2009 and Q4 2011, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Spending by consumers and businesses: Personal consumption has managed to climb 10% in the past three years, according to the BEA, but companies continue to hoard cash, with cash on hand up 27% since Q1 2009, according to the Federal Reserve Bank.

Stimulus price tag: The original estimate for the cost of the stimulus was $787 billion. Now the Congressional Budget Office says that, when all is said and done, it will have cost$825 billion .

Perhaps the best measure of the success or failure of the stimulus, however, is the fact that President Obama in his latest budget plan has called for still another round of stimulus spending, this time totaling $350 billion over the next four years, for what is labeled “short-term measures for jobs growth.””

http://news.investors.com/article/601526/201202171525/obama-economic-stimulus-turns-three.htm

The Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007. Obviously Obama inherited the damage they inflicted on the economy and made it worse.

US unemployment data, from the federal government, Jan. 2007 to Jan. 2012.

More details here.

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000

56 Comments

Posted in 2009 Stimulus Bill, Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Employment, Government, Jobs, Labor Department, News, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, US economy, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , ,