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Politics
Unemployment Drops to 7.8 Percent, Angry GOP Accuses Pres. Obama of Manipulating Numbers
According to a report released by the Labor Department today, the unemployment rate dropped from 8.2 to 7.8 percent with 114,000 new jobs added.
The fact that it dropped under 8 percent is crucial for the Obama administration as no sitting president, post World War II, has ever been re-elected with an unemployment rate above 8 percent.
The New York Times reports:
While employers added only a modest 114,000 jobs last month, the jobless rate declined to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent, even though more people entered the labor force.
Adding to the positive news, job gains were revised upward by 40,000 for July (to 181,000) and by 46,000 for August (to 142,000), which had been considered a disappointing month, casting a slightly rosier hue on the summer slowdown.
The private sector, which has been adding jobs since March 2010, grew by 104,000 workers in September. Governments, where cuts have been a drag on the recovery, added 10,000 jobs.
Even though the jobless rate has fallen, not everyone is happy about it. In fact, some Republicans are claiming that the numbers have been cooked up by the Obama administration.
Mitt Romney said in a statement: “This is not what a real recovery looks like. We created fewer jobs in September than in August, and fewer jobs in August than in July, and we’ve lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office.”
Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia (R-VA) added: “It simply isn’t good enough" and “should not be cause for celebration.”
Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, a strong opponent of worker's rights and unions, stated: "Unbelievable jobs numbers... these Chicago guys will do anything... can't debate so change numbers."
Rep. Allen West (R-FL) wrote on his Facebook page: "I agree with former GE CEO Jack Welch, Chicago style politics is at work here. Somehow by manipulation of data we are all of a sudden below 8 percent unemployment, a month from the Presidential election. This is Orwellian to say the least and representative of Saul Alinsky tactics from the book 'Rules for Radicals' a must read for all who want to know how the left strategize."
However, Hilda Solis, the United States Secretary of Labor, told CNBC that the idea the unemployment numbers were being fixed was "ludicrous."
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Comments
the results were falsified
the results were falsified unemployment is low because another round of folks can no longer draw unemployment so it is actually higher than 8.0%
Wow, the Repugs have finally
Wow, the Repugs have finally gone all in with the tinfoil hat brigade. Nevermind Saddam's mythical WMDs, concealing The Second Global Republican Depression In A Lifetime till DAYS after (losing) the '08 election, the NY Times sitting on Warrantless Wiretapping till a YEAR after W. was (supposedly) "safely" reelected, etc etc etc! Definitely suffering Projection Syndrome... not a quality anyone should want in a policymaker! And to think the GOP used to be a credible alternative.... "How the mighty are fallen!"
Quote: "While employers added
Quote: "While employers added only a modest 114,000 jobs last month, the jobless rate declined to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent, even though more people entered the labor force."
THINK about that statement.....!!! Read it slowly......
-- OHHHhhhh!!!! (yeahhh!!!)(oops)
So, in a nation of MANY MILLIONS of workers,....114,000 new jobs raises the employment %-rate that much...."even when more people entered the labor force"? ROLF!!!
Look, it turns out most of the jobs were part-time positions & GOVT jobs, at that! WHO -- WHO decides on hiring for govt jobs? The president? Oh, yeah! Lol. Obama hired a bunch of people, part-time,...to make the jobs number look better....while they also strike off the numbers of people who simply gave up & quit looking for work. Even the media is now admitting to it. The man has got to go.
Wow - you're not seriously
Wow - you're not seriously suggesting the president personally hired 114,000 people last month?! Just to make his numbers look good? You need to upgrade your tinfoil. First, the president has much more important things to do than conduct job interviews. Secondly, if the president were capable of padding his numbers in such a fashion, don't you think he would have started doing so long ago? Third, of the 114k jobs, only about 10k were public sector. Fourth, most of those 10k public sector jobs were at the state and local, not the national level.
Most of those who know about
Most of those who know about politics (private sector) know this as well, The current regime, along with those in the past just fudge the numbers to hide the true rate of unemployed by factoring out underemployed (part time), those who have quit looking (considered employed by de-facto) The current regime kicked up the benefits from 24 weeks to 99 weeks simply (and obviously)to make the past administration look bad. When election time was approaching, they dropped it back down to 24 weeks (which miraculously plunged the unemployment rate) to make the prez "appear to improve the job market". There are 7 "green energy" companies that ALL went bankrupt under Obama's taxes and green energy policies, which cost the taxpayers over 90 BILLION dollars while the owners (who all happened to be Obama contributors) all walked away with ALL of their initial investments and then some.
....and how many poor black
....and how many poor black folks got to walk away with any of that money that Obama handed over to the "millionaires & billionaires" kind of rich dudes that started those green energy companies? How many were friends of Obama? Hey, surely they must've been some common black folk among them, 'cause Obama's just like everybody else, right? after all, he drinks beer. (lol)
Jack Welch just admitted to
Jack Welch just admitted to Chris Matthews that he made up the charge out of thin air, with no evidence whatsoever. So, it's amusing to see these Limbaugh ditto-heads parrot Welch's charge that Obama jimmied the statistic. It shows their real lack of critical thinking.
Obama decides about the govt
Obama decides about the govt hiring all the part-time jobs that made up most of the gains, right? He also decides about changing the (extra) time of unemployment benefits, to shift the stats there, too. Also, when did part-time jobs start being such a big part of employment data on this? Hmmm. Maybe he didn't directly jimmy the numbers, but he did some manipulating. You just can't deal with it due to being so partisan. You need to realize that it is both sides versus the American people, and sometimes one more than the other -- sort of like who's trying to cling to power.
Wrong on almost every count.
Wrong on almost every count. Most of the job gains in Sept. were in the private sector. only about 10k were public sector jobs, and most of yhose were atthe stateand local levels, where Obama has no more influence than you or I.
When did part time jobs start being a part of the employment data?They always have been. But if you're concerned, the Sept. numbers also suggest full-time employment grew faster than part-time. Average hours worked per week is up, as well as hourly and weekly pay.
I watched the debate this
I watched the debate this week on PBS, because like millions of Americans I do not need anyone else to tell me what i heard. I am sick of corporate owned media outlets telling me what it's like to be middle-class in America. My family, my friends & I live "the reality" of middle-working class Americans everyday. The truth is that I have relatives & friends all over this country and everyone of them has said that since 2011 everyone they know who needed & wanted a job has been able to find one. I don't know of anyone who wouldn't like to be making more money, but everyone I know is paying their current bills & debts on the income from just working one job. Regardless of govt. Reports., political party hype or media statistics, people who do not automatically vote "a Party", tend to support the candidate who supports their interests. Based on real actions & results, more voters think Obama supports their interests. The Republicans try to disenfranchise voters, while the Democrats are earning American votes.
Ooo good spin on getting
Ooo good spin on getting killed in the debate, "real actions and results"... lol. You should work for the whitehouse. I am sure in your fluffy white bread neighborhood, all is well. But the FACT is that true unemployment is the highest EVER since the depression. Just because they changed how it is reported does not change the fact that over 14% of employable people are out of full time work.
Sure I'm doing great. I keep educating myself and continue to look for opportunity. It is like the old adage, if you and a friend are hiking and you see a bear, you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your friend. The economy sucks for ALOT of people that can't run as fast as you or me or your friends. AND your groceries and gas have gone up like mine have. So maybe you can pay your bills no sweat. But those who scrape by are now just getting deeper in a hole.
So go play another 9 rounds and the rest of us will worry about how to fix things. Maybe Barry will join you on the back 9 since that is how he spends most of his time anyway.
Look here for the REAL
Look here for the REAL numbers, like U-6. This is all smoke and means nothing in terms of REAL unemployment.
http://www.portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp
U-3 is the OFFICIAL unemployment number but disregards the ACTUAL number of unemployed people who are employable. Learn how to interpret unemployment numbers on this website. The official number excludes "discouraged workers" who STOPPED applying for work AND benefits, "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently and part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons.
The official number is blowing smoke up your skirt. Get a clue everybody. And tell your friends.
Gotta love the way, the
Gotta love the way, the minute U3 starts making Obama look good, suddenly all these conservatives come popping out of their holes to declare U6 the "real" unemployment rate. Where were all these champions of U6 last month when it was dropping three ticks? Or four years ago when there was a Republican in the White House?
News flash: there's a reason the BLS has six different definitions of unemployment; each is useful for different purposes. If you prefer U6, that's fine (though it's no more "real" a number than U3 or U4). Just don't forget to note that it, too, is down more than two percent since '09.
Funny how you never hear liberals trying to push U1 as the "real" number - "Hey U3 is bogus! It's just a bunch of republicans trying to make Obama look bad. The REAL unemployment rate's only 4.3%."
Michael, Michael, Michael.
Michael, Michael, Michael. When will you become an actual honest "journalist?"
The BLS unemployment number was derived from a different methodology. It did a telephone survey of "households" and in it's own press release indicates that "On a month-to-month basis, the household survey employment measure is more variable than the payroll employment measure due to the smaller household survey sample."
One must wonder why the BLS chose this month (the month before the election) to suddenly change their methodology when the old methods yielded a consistent "8.1 to 8.3%"... and had the government agency not chosen to purge a million workers from the total workforce to get the actual percentage of 10.7% down to what can be remotely called a "victory" percentage of 7.8% (yes, still terrible, but under that magic threshhold of 8.0%)
There are no Republicans that I know that would be angry with an actual downturn in the unemployment rate... just those are distressed when they see the numbers as being a political tool by the BLS, the president, and a complicit media.
UnJdM