Jobless Rate Falls -- The Obama boost

[Bixbyte]

US jobless rate falls to 7.8 pct., 44-month low
US unemployment rate falls to 7.8 pct., lowest since 2009, giving Obama a potential boost

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, dropping below 8 percent for the first time in nearly four years and giving President Barack Obama a potential boost with the election a month away.

The rate declined from 8.1 percent because the number of people who said they were employed soared by 873,000 — an encouraging sign for an economy that's been struggling to create enough jobs.

The number of unemployed Americans is now 12.1 million, the fewest since January 2009.

The Labor Department said employers added 114,000 jobs in September. It also said the economy created 86,000 more jobs in July and August than the department had initially estimated.

Wages rose in September. And more people started looking for work.

The revisions show employers added 146,000 jobs per month from July through September, up from 67,000 in the previous three months.

The 7.8 percent unemployment rate for September matches the rate in January 2009, when Obama took office. In the months after Obama's inauguration, the rate rose sharply and had topped 8 percent for 43 straight months.

[NickTheCage]

Bixbyte .. I know I'm not that competent in economics so maybe you or someone else can help me out.

Please explain to me why the rate the WH and administration is reporting dropped yet the U6 remained the same (14.7%)? I'm confused.

Much appreciated.

[Politburo]

Feel free to make an argument that getting part-time job is worse than having no job..

[Bixbyte]

On jobs numbers, BLS vows there's no conspiracy

On the heels of a positive September jobs report, which showed a 0.3 percent drop in the national unemployment rate, prominent conservative Jack Welch and some others on the right are questioning the source of the data, suggesting on Twitter that the Obama team had in some way manipulated the data to their advantage.

"Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers," wrote Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric, shortly after the September jobs report was released.

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham piled on in a Twitter message of her own: "Jobs #s from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are total pro-Obama propaganda--labor force participation rate at 30-yr low. Abysmal!"

Welch was not available to comment on the nature of his Twitter message or to offer up an explanation for its basis - according to someone in his office, he posted his message before walking into a meeting without his phone - but the Bureau of Labor Statistics and others immediately knocked down his and other similar comments as factually unsound.

On jobs numbers, BLS vows there's no conspiracy - CBS News

Republicans on Attack Mode.
NBC TV owns GE former CEO attacking Obama administration on the newest JOB Stats.

[NickTheCage]

Unemployed down 456,000

Jobs added 114,000

where did the 342,000 go?

Disability maybe

[PASnow]

"Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers," wrote Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric, shortly after the September jobs report was released.

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham piled on in a Twitter message of her own: "Jobs #s from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are total pro-Obama propaganda--labor force participation rate at 30-yr low. Abysmal!"

Haha, first the poll #'s are fixed, now unemployment data is fixed. This race is toast, stick a fork in it. Romney had a slight chance for 32 hours, now the debates an afterthought. Joe Bidens gonna open another can of whoopass on Ryan. Guy is useless outside of his Ryan plan, no foreign affairs experience, and Bidens only real need is to hammer Ryan with Medicare, Medicaid & Soc Sec to grow their current lead even further in Florida. The reason it matters is cause the country is at least slowly heading in a better direction, and are willing to accept that. Rather than go back to an unknown, unreliable, and unproven mess that the previous administration got us into. Why go back to it?

Bixbyte .. I know I'm not that competent in economics so maybe you or someone else can help me out.

Please explain to me why the rate the WH and administration is reporting dropped yet the U6 remained the same (14.7%)? I'm confused.

Much appreciated.

Oh ok pal. As if you didn't hear this stat in the media. The U1, U2, U3, U4, and U5 ALL DROPPED.... but suddenly the U6 is what's important to you and you bring up. Not buying it. Also the U6 was 7.4 GWB's first full month in office, it was 14.2 when he was gone.

Portal Seven | U6 Unemployment Rate

[Bixbyte]

Bixbyte .. I know I'm not that competent in economics so maybe you or someone else can help me out.

Please explain to me why the rate the WH and administration is reporting dropped yet the U6 remained the same (14.7%)? I'm confused.

Much appreciated.

During the debate Obama knew the BLS stats prior to the public announcement today Friday.
Kept his mouth shut hoping to allow Mitt room to tighten noose around his neck if he faltered.
Like Mitt claimed that 25 million without a job.
12.1 Million today and Obama walked away smiling.

[Politburo]

During the debate Obama knew the BLS stats prior to the public announcement today Friday.

Only a handful of people have access to the numbers before the release, and the President is not one of them. He gets the job numbers at 8:30am just like everyone else. (ETA: This is incorrect, see next post)

[MuscleHead]

Only a handful of people have access to the numbers before the release, and the President is not one of them. He gets the job numbers at 8:30am just like everyone else.

The president gets the numbers on Thursday afternoon.

Each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics sends its unemployment figures to the White House Council of Economic Advisers on Thursday afternoon, the day before releasing them publicly at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on the first Friday of every month, according to a BLS spokesman.

BLS sends the data to the White House council via secure data transfer “sometime in the afternoon, but it can range,” BLS spokesman Gary Steinberger said. “It’s not like we have a solid time and that’s it.”

BLS sends the data as soon as it finishes compiling its written release of figures from last month’s employment survey, and the transfer typically does not happen before noon. “We’re talking about computer systems and human writing,” Steinberger said of the precise timing.

Will Obama Peek at Jobs Report Before DNC Speech? - ABC News

[Politburo]

The president gets the numbers on Thursday afternoon.



Will Obama Peek at Jobs Report Before DNC Speech? - ABC News

I stand corrected, then. Thanks.

[jdhill]

Feel free to make an argument that getting part-time job is worse than having no job..

It would be difficult to make the argument, agreed, but it's an argument that doesn't need to be made. To the contrary, the argument that needs to be made is that today's data shows demonstrably that economic conditions are improved from the perspective of the person forced to get a part time job, at what may be half the hours, at half the hourly rate, with fewer benefits. Try convincing them that 7.8% is a sign of progress.

[PASnow]

During the debate Obama knew the BLS stats prior to the public announcement today Friday.

Only a handful of people have access to the numbers before the release, and the President is not one of them. He gets the job numbers at 8:30am just like everyone else. (ETA: This is incorrect, see next post)

The president gets the numbers on Thursday afternoon.

I stand corrected, then. Thanks.

While you had the details wrong I think your original intent still stands. Since Obama wouldn't learn of the BLS report until Thursday afternoon, he therefore didn't know of them during the debate. Since the debate was Wednesday night.

[govtstatistic]

I guess the target is on big bird
while ndaa now considers the majority of americans as untrustworthy unemployed terroist's
thanks to new Pinocchio polls
about as reliable as any other poll

[Bixbyte]

While you had the details wrong I think your original intent still stands. Since Obama wouldn't learn of the BLS report until Thursday afternoon, he therefore didn't know of them during the debate. Since the debate was Wednesday night.

BLS to me always stood for the Bureau of Lies and Statistics.
You really believe Obama didn't Know until Thursday?
Someone could not slip the stats to the Chief sooner?
Do I believe everything I read?

[2happy4u]

OH MY, this is great news... lets give him 4 more years 6 more trillion and see if we can get it down to 7.5.... The little angry man had his 15 minutes, now lets move on and repair his damage.

[PASnow]

"No, there's nothing at all curious about the last jobs report diving to 7.8 percent unemployment before the election," said Keith Urbahn, Donald Rumsfeld's former chief of staff.

GOP Jobs Report Manipulation Claims Dismissed - Yahoo! News

Something tells me Romney isn't exactly thrilled by having Donald Rumsfelds name pop up.

[NickTheCage]

Feel free to make an argument that getting part-time job is worse than having no job..

Feel free to make an argument that a part-time job should be considered equal to a full time job

Feel free to make the argument that the country is growing (besides our debt) and moving in the right direction

[Jay from Philly]

What happens when we hit the debt ceiling at the end of the year? Will Russia and China lend us more? Or will we print up money out of thin air? Philadelphia can go to Harrisburg and DC and cry race until we get mow money. If Russia and China don't want to buy our debt, calling them racists does America no good. The Russians and the Chinese don't care if we call them racist. What then?

[NickTheCage]

What happens when we hit the debt ceiling at the end of the year? Will Russia and China lend us more? Or will we print up money out of thin air? Philadelphia can go to Harrisburg and DC and cry race until we get mow money. If Russia and China don't want to buy our debt, calling them racists does America no good. The Russians and the Chinese don't care if we call them racist. What then?

Politburo says debt is no biggie and the Fed can just continue purchasing .. all is well

Sovereigns have slowed down their bond purchases and will stop at some point, just notice all the global positioning happening over the past 4 - 6 years. That could be the best thing to happen b/ the only way to educate the economic illiterates who don't live in reality is either massive inflation or massive deflation (if we can't via tax policy) dependiong on what the federal reserve does. Good times and I anxiously await the results, the blame, etc ..

[ADL]

Unemployed down 456,000

Jobs added 114,000

where did the 342,000 go?

Disability maybe

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but until someone can answer this question that Nick The Cage posted, I will continue to beleive that this recent unemployment figure is hogwash. As soon as I saw the details supporting the new unemployment numbers, this jumped right off the page.

Are there any Obama-supporting weekend economists that want to take a crack at answering this?