EDITORIAL: Obama’s bogus jobs data

Congress should investigate cooked employment booksThe White House hyped the news Friday that January payrolls had risen by 243,000. The hitch is the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also dropped 1.2 million from the calculated workforce. Somehow this net loss of a million workers in a single month was transformed into an improvement in the unemployment rate. As the old saying goes, figures can lie, and liars can figure. “Job growth was widespread,” the BLS reported, but most Americans sense that something isn’t quite right with the numbers. The most important change was the deep decline in the workforce. While...

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Unemployment rate hinges on more than job gains (8.9% including people who gave up)

WASHINGTON - For most people, the 8.3 percent unemployment rate is the most visible sign of the economy's health. The rate's every movement is closely watched, especially in an election year. But when the rate declines, it's not always because many more people were hired. The unemployment rate can rise or fall even when no jobs are created or lost. Last month, the rate fell because jobs were added. One reason for the rate's decline is that fewer people are looking for work. Here's why: The unemployment rate counts only people who don't have a job and are looking for...

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Here's The Truth About The Massive, Million Plus Spike In People Not In The Labor Force

Here's The Truth About The Massive, Million Plus Spike In People Not In The Labor Force Joe Weisenthal Feburary 3, 2012 There's a ton of hype today about the 1 million+ spike in people not in the labor force, and whether it undermines the good jobs data. The chart is actually alarming at first blush. Yow! Is someone cooking the books? Was there a gigantic exodus of people out of the workforce? Hate to burst your conspiracy theories, but no. As SilverOz at The Bonddad Blog points out, the BLS' own announcement points out that starting this year, brand new...

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1.18 Million People Drop Out of Labor Force, Duration of Unemployment Increases to 21.1 Weeks

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. surged by 243,000 for January 2012, higher than the expected 140,000 by economists. Civilian unemployment likewise declined to 8.3%. the lowest rate since February 2009. On the other hand, median duration of unemployment actually rose to 21.1 weeks. The civilian non-institutional population rose by 1,685,000 (that should eventually help the housing market recover), while the number of employed rose 847,000. The number of people NOT in the labor force rose by 1,177,000. This indicates that the civilian employment to population ratio dropped dramatically in January. Let me say...

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Job market is getting better, but ...

Will investors, consumers and politicians be singing "Take this jobs report and shove it!" come Friday morning? The government will report two key numbers Friday: the number of jobs that were added in January and the unemployment rate. Both figures have been moving in the right direction lately and the hope is that this trend will continue. However, the labor market may have lost a little bit of steam in January. According to a survey of economists by CNNMoney, the current median forecast is that just 135,000 jobs were added last month and that the unemployment rate likely rose to...

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Today We Saw This Chart Literally Make People's Jaws Drop

Today We Saw This Chart Literally Make People's Jaws Drop Joe WeisenthalJanuary 30,2012 We were just in the studios of GBTV (Glenn Beck's online network) around a group of folks who were watching Glenn's show, when he put up this chart from ZeroHedge of youth unemployment in Europe. Jaws literally dropped around the room. The extent of how bad it is is not well known.ZeroHedge By the way, the salience of this issue was underscored today, when even Rupert Murdoch began tweeting about it.

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Monster.com Few jobs show up in search (Vanity)

Is anyone not getting a lot of jobs show up in their search? The past few days this has happened for me on Monster.com.

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The Weekly Economic Indicators: Still All Looking Good

The Weekly Economic Indicators: Still All Looking GoodNew Deal democrat, The Bonddad BlogJanuary 29,2012First, as to the monthly reports, home sales continued poor, but consumer confidence jumped back further, completely regaining its pre-debt debacle levels. In the rear view mirror department, 4Q 2011 GDP was +2.8% although some internal components were weaker. Those few sources who thought a new recession might begin by the end of 2011 were almost certainly wrong. Turning now to the high frequency weekly indicators: Weekly employment-related data was mixed. The BLS reported that Initial jobless claims rose by 25,000 to 377,000, which is still an...

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How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president. But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke, President Obama interrupted with an inquiry of his own: what would it take to make iPhones in the United States? Mr. Jobs’s reply was unambiguous. “Those jobs aren’t coming back,” he said, according to another dinner guest.

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Labor Dept. settles racial discrimination

Company discriminated against blacks and whites in favor of Hispanics. The Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has announced that government contractor JacintoPort International has agreed to settle allegations of hiring discrimination on the basis of race involving ...

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Manipulation 101: The Real Unemployment Rate

* Fake it until you make it. ** By: Larry Walker, Jr. *The following passage is from my last post, “Labor Force Contraction with Obama - And other hidden truths” :“Most of the electorate understands that as the size of the labor force shrinks the unemployment rate declines. But is anyone really paying attention? Since this massive decline in the civilian labor force is a verifiable fact, it's not surprising that the Obama Administration and much of the propagandist media have chosen to ignore it.”Okay, I confess that I was begging the question. I am fully aware that most...

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