Friday, December 07, 2012

Unemployment Rate Drops

There’s a reason for the raised eyebrow...

As much as his fans scream and yell when he walks on water or levitates, most people have a pretty good idea that magician/illusionist Criss Angel is somehow tricking them and not actually defying the laws of physics.

In much the same why, when this morning’s surprisingly strong jobs data came out, professional investors and economists alike knew immediately that something was up. In a month when one of the nation’s most disruptive storms in recent history occurred, for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to report that Hurricane Sandy did not have an impact and the unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7% and 146,000 new jobs were created, that defies the laws of reason.

“It’s a little hard to believe quite honestly,” says Dan North, chief economist at Euler Hermes, in the attached video. “If there’s any report that deserved caveats and conditions it’s this one.”

Here’s the key figure:

The civilian labor force participation rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 63.6 percent in November

(3) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1045 hrs
Economy + Politics + Politics - General

  1. Yeah, more good news just doesn’t make sense.

    Raised eyebrows by the ” it can’t be happening because our guys aren’t getting it done here” crowd.

    Call me when national unemployment hits 4% and you’re super,duper disturbed .

    Know when my eyebrows raise ?  its every month the republicans give excuses for ScottWalkers incredibly lackluster job performance.

     

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 07, 2012 at 2333 hrs


  2. Look at the actual numbers, Mark Maley.  There’s no need to be suspicious of anything.  They’re terrible.  Horrible, actually.  The workforce declined again, hence the drop in unemployment.

    Now if we could only get everyone out of the workforce, then unemployment would be zero.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 08, 2012 at 0749 hrs


  3. Actually the U6 is the REAL number as it adds both those who are actively looking for work and those who have said F IT and dropped out of the job market. It is at 14.4% That is the real unemployment number.

    Once ObamaKare’s taxes hit on 1 Jan 2013, the number will go up as we foolow Spain, Greece, etc.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 08, 2012 at 1946 hrs


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