Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, caused a stir after the numbers were released, tweeting “Unbelievable jobs numbers…these Chicago guys will do anything…can’t debate so change numbers.” [CNBC]
JUST WHEN Mitt Romney makes a break for himself out of the weekly contagion of rolling calamity, as it’s been called, the unemployment number lands.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in more than 3½ years in September as the economy continued to add jobs, a potential boost for President Barack Obama’s campaign to win a second term. The politically important unemployment rate fell to 7.8% last month from 8.1% in August. That was the lowest level since January 2009. [Wall Street Journal]
Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers
— Jack Welch (@jack_welch) October 5, 2012
The fact is, things are getting marginally better- first the stock market, now the unemployment rate. Makes it tougher for the Republicans to get voters to gamble, which is why we can expect “these numbers are garbage” for the rest of the campaign.
Meanwhile, I’d like to know how many more people simply gave up looking for work. Also, the dropping of the unemployment does exactly nothing to cure the really endemic problem of stagnated wages and shrinking purchasing power, but my guess is that the Democrats will crow about the new number, the Republicans will question it, and the majority of voters will shrug and vote out of a combination of fear, apathy and surrender to the status quo.
You didn’t read the details of the report. It was not due to people dropping out. More people are finding work. They had to revise the numbers upward for the past two months. Also, wages are up with very little inflation.
“Things are getting marginally better”! Wow, that is high praise coming from you. I Think I’ll be taking a screen shot!
Yes marginally better. Only a deluded Obamabot thinks that this is a good economy. And only a deluded Republican thinks that it’s Obama’s fault. The fact is that neither party is willing to make the bold changes needed to bring the economy back to life for the middle class and the poor.
I don’t think anyone even the average Obama supporter thinks the economy is great, I certainly don’t. All we say is when judging Obama’s performance be fair about it and compare where we are now to where we were then! Obama is now a net job creator and the unemployment rate is back to where it was the day he walked into the White House. That is an accomplishment given that the economy was shedding 800K per month in early 2009! The economy is not perfect far from it and I to share your frustration with the lack of courage on the part of this President and Dems in general but I believe in giving credit where credit is due however tempered!
“What is that gun firing for?” asked Boxer.
“To celebrate our victory” replied Squealer.
“What victory?” asked Boxer.
“The humans invaded and we forced them off our farm!”
“So we have just regained what we had before?” asked Boxer.
“That is our victory!” replied Squealer.
Imagine where the economy would be with if Republicans in Congress had not spent the last 21 months deliberately trying to stall the recovery? That 7.8% number was achieved with zero help from the GOP!
I posted too soon! Right after I post last I went to HuffPost and found this article! Minus the GOP the unemployment rate would be 6.8%!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-gongloff/unemployment-september-2012-78-percent_b_1942873.html
And minus left-handed people the unemployment rate would be 6.2%!! And minus blondes the unemployment rate would be 5.4%!! And minus people who are unemployed, the unemployment rate would be ZERO percent!
Zero percent unemployment! Wow! What a great job Our Young PresidentTM is doing!
Too bad Obama spent the first two years of his presidency chasing votes of those nuts instead of just doing what should have been done.
jjamele! What a stupid response!
“But Obama deserves some blame, too, for falling sway to the perverse deficit obsession that has gripped Washington, despite the worst recession since the Great Depression and an anemic recovery. He’s allowing government to shrink when it should have expanded to offset weak private demand.”
My guess is that this is the part of the article you linked that you would just as soon we skip over.
And I’m Sorry! My posts! Arent’! To your liking! Maybe I just need! To use more exclamation points! Like you do!
The new numbers seem to be on the positive side in that they are not a result of people dropping out; that said, it’s really the quality of the jobs and what people are earning now as compared to five years ago. Can a newly hired auto worker raise and support a family on 14.00 an hour?
Wages are up in the report.
Republicans think everyone behaves as they would.
Someone on Twitter said it perfectly: it’s economic “trutherism”!
So now I expect to see President Obama going out and telling everyone how great things are. The economy sucks. Unemployment is much higher than 7.8%. Minorities are suffering especially hard.
Things are getting better. Stock Market is up, Housing is up, and now we see unemployment is down.
1.’So now I expect to see President Obama going out and telling everyone how great things are.”
Well as to be expected what YOU expect and what reality is aren’t quite the same thing. President Obama has said the economy is improving but not quickly enough and pointing out the obstructionism from the domestic terrorist/repugnantklan/teabagger controlled House.
2.” The economy sucks.”
See answer to #1
3.” Unemployment is much higher than 7.8%.”
Oh please, so you’re one of the truthers now as well as a repugnantklan/teabagger cheerleader?
4.” Minorities are suffering especially hard.”
See answer to #1
You REALLY need to get some new martial.
Unemployment at 10% or more would have made Republicans happier. Twisted minds.
Check out Fox News! Heads are exploding! LOL!
I love the sound of repugnantklan/teabagger heads excploding….it sounds like…VICTORY!
Facts just don’t have the impact/stature they once did, because of the way they are used, hyped and manipulated. A really stupid example of this was seen on TV after Wednesday’s debate. According to talking heads on TV; the debate was the most twittered political event in HISTORY!!! A true fact. Twitter was created in 2006. Stupid.
Along with the lack of trust in almost every institution; the media, government, poltical parties, business, etc., it is really up to the individual if they want to believe the facts or not.
I don’t think there is need to try and deny the household survey results…….just admit to what it is…….a much smaller sample size than the more robust (and arguably more official) business survey which shows a much more trend-consistent figure of 114K added as opposed to this 873K bomb that is moving the UR so much at once.
If the next report at the end of October confirms this 873K, then indeed Obama is the Messiah because only the Son of God could get a one month hextupling of the job creation rate right before his re-election date.
First of all, I’ll just mention again that unemployment numbers don’t mean all that much beyond the Beltway. We understand how our own personal economies are going lately. The only thing the BLS stats tell us, if they’re accurate, is how many personal economies are better or worse than they were.
Anyway, as to the numbers themselves, at a short glance it looks like they’re consistent. Biggest change I see is that the number of job losses was considerably lower – roughly 490k. That’s the big difference in the rate. That looks to be a one month thing. It may not be as bad as it had been in the coming months, but it’s not likely to stay that good.
Manufacturing has been flat, or losing jobs, for months.
There’s nothing driving this economy but hot air right now. There seems to be plenty of that at the moment, but winter’s coming.
This is also a double-edged sword statistic buried therein……
The number of people with part-time jobs who wanted full-time work rose 7.5 percent to 8.6 million.
http://mam.econoday.com/byshoweventfull.asp?fid=451284&cust=mam&year=2012&lid=0#top
Part time jobs were the bulk of the 873K, but these were apparently not voluntary part-time.
Actually, I suspect that is one of the reasons for the higher retention rate. Anyway, the higher part time rate is a negative indication, as is the 16k in manufacturing jobs lost. I’m going from memory, but I think that’s about as large as any gains in that sector we’ve seen since Obama took office.
I think you meant to say “loss” not “gain” in your last sentence. Manufacturing had been a surprisingly good contributor to the gains for the last year or so, but if that turns around (consistently down), that will put a drag on some of the other stats too.
I don’t know everything “health care worker” encompasses, but that seems to be the only area impervious.
No, I meant to write “gains”. I don’t remember any monthly gains that are bigger than that in manufacturing since Obama took office. This loss is as big as any of those gains, IOW. Most of the increases people remarked on were in the 15k range, IIRC.
Yes, the medical sector seems to gain regularly. Probably due to the aging population, mostly. Increases in Medicaid might make more health care available to the poor (and thus increase demand for health services), but it seems to me it’s a bit early to see that.
So, I guess the job numbers are the new “Bin Laden Tapes” conspiracy fetish for this election. Remember during Bush and Kerry when Dems claimed those sudden release of tapes by Bin Laden…was part of hidden agenda to get Bush reelected.
So, my dear Obama supporters, if Obama is re-elected, how do you thing the atmosphere in Washington will change? Economic trutherism is a preview of coming attractions. TM, please start a betting on January 20, 2013 for the number of weeks before articles of impeachment are introduced in Congress.
The United States has more low wage jobs than any other industrialized nation with the exception of South Korea. Back during the Clinton years, when the administration was touting all the jobs it had created, their was that well traveled quote from a low wage worker, ” Yeah, lots of jobs, and I have three of them ” .