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Archive for the ‘jobless rate’ Category

September Unemployment Unchanged At 9.1 Percent; 103000 Jobs …

Nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 103000 in September, and the unemployment rate held at 9.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The increase in employment partially reflected the return to …

Publish Date: 10/07/2011 14:52

http://asternglance.com/2011/10/07/september-unemployment-unchanged-at-9-1-percent-103000-jobs-added/

Economy Added 103000 Jobs In September, Unemployment Rate …

Economy Added 103000 Jobs In September, Unemployment Rate Unchanged.

Publish Date: 10/07/2011 11:02

http://www.mediabistro.com/mediajobsdaily/economy-added-103000-jobs-in-september-unemployment-rate-unchanged_b8661

What Could Be Worse Than 9.1 Percent? – Try 16.5 Percent!

The number of part-time workers who want full-time hours rose sharply over the month, to 9.3 million, from 8.8 million in August, and if you add those workers to people that have quit looking because they don’t see hope of getting hired, then the share of unemployed and underemployed among the U.S. workforce rose to 16.5% in September, up from 16.2% in the prior month and 15.8% in May.

"The upturn in this category is discouraging, it’s very discouraging. It shows the broader measure of underutilization of America’s productive capabilities, and reminds us that the labor market hasn’t recovered as much as we thought".

said Harry Holzer, who is a labor economist at the Urban Institute and Georgetown University.

The White House Spin – We Expected Worse

Analysts say about 125,000 net new jobs are needed every month to keep pace with the population growth and maintain the current jobless rate, but the spin is:

"Many forecasters were expecting about 60,000 net new jobs last month, but 103,000 were added!

The Reality

While construction employment rebounded and retailers hired more workers last month, manufacturing payrolls shrank again and government continued its sharp cutbacks.

The ranks of the unemployed in the U.S. remained at about 14 million, but the share of those who have been without jobs for six months or more, the so-called long-term unemployed, rose to 6.2 million from 6 million in August.

The third quarter’s average monthly tally at 96,000 jobs which is roughly the same as in the second quarter, but during the first three months of this year, job growth averaged 166,000 a month.

In September, local education jobs fell by another 24,400, accounting for most of the 34,000 positions lost in government overall.

The Postal Service slashed 5,300 jobs last month.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, women gained only 4,000 of the 103,000 total jobs added in September.

The count of September jobs, over all, was partially inflated by the return to work of about 45,000 striking Verizon workers, just as their temporary absence from payrolls lowered the August job numbers.

How Many Jobs Need To Be Added?

Heidi Shierholz, who is a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington calculated that the economy would need to generate 280,000 jobs every month for five straight years to return to the 5% jobless rate that was in force before the recession hit in late 2007.

Was There Good News?

The professional and business services led the industries in job growth by adding 48,000 to their payrolls last month, and the temporary-help field, often considered a harbinger of broader hiring by companies, rose by about 20,000 last month for the second straight month after weakening earlier in the year.

Healthcare employment increased by 44,000 in September, and the long-declining construction sector added an unexpectedly large 26,000 jobs over the month, almost entirely due to nonresidential building activity.

An “Act of War”: Obama’s Destruction of the U.S. Energy Industry …

Kevin Mooney tabulates the damage that the Obama administration is doing to the Gulf economy, and to the energy industry generally: Ten oil rigs have left the Gulf of Mexico since the Obama Administration imposed a …

Publish Date: 08/23/2011 22:10

http://mayrantandrave.com/2011/08/23/an-act-of-war-obamas-destruction-of-the-u-s-energy-industry/

Bob Chapman: Obama's Deliberate Destruction of America …

1 comment to Bob Chapman: Obama's Deliberate Destruction of America. David. October 1, 2011 at 9:41 am · Reply. I am going to have to agree with Chapman. I think the destruction of America has been a deliberate attempt. …

Publish Date: 10/01/2011 6:51

http://sgtreport.com/2011/09/bob-chapman-obamas-deliberate-destruction-of-america/

As promised, the Obama administration fundamentally transformed America!

America is now in serious decline.

Income is lower.

Unemployment is higher.

Jobs are fewer.

Government is much larger.

Federal spending is way up.

America’s global economic status is way down.

The world-view of our country and our economy is in the pits!

And perhaps worse still, hardly anyone sees any sign of economic recovery or improvement.

Let’s look at the Labor Department data on the number of Americans 16 and older unemployed for 52 weeks or more during the five most recent recessions:

1976   750,000

1982 1,600,000

1994 1,200,000

2004 1,100,000

2010 4,300,000

Total government spending averaged about 19% of gross domestic product from 1996 to 2007 and rose to about 21% in 2008 but in the three years of the Obama administration it soared to 25%.

Why Did It Happen?

The Obama administration is focused on its increasing control of health care, propping up labor unions, increasing taxes, and expanding the scope and size of government.

In the first 70 years of the 20th century, American and European economic growth increased together, but then the Europeans shifted toward socialism, and their growth lagged.

And America is rapidly moving toward the European model, and we are starting to see its detrimental impact.

President Obama’s recent spending and tax policy proposals would only make things worse.

He wants to increase the federal deficit by increasing spending and providing some targeted, but short term, payroll tax cuts.

And this is at a time when we need to bring the federal deficit down and fast!

Obama’s Plan

Although Obama’s plan would actually increase the deficit by $447 billion over the next year or two, Obama says his increase will be "paid for", and to do it, he’s proposed a series of permanent tax increases.

But America’s economy is already facing two significant tax increases.

The first will be the end of the Bush tax cuts in December 2012.

And because of ObamaCare, starting in 2013 taxpayers making more than $200,000 will pay an additional 3.8% on investment and interest income.

The Near End Of Giving To Charity?

The new Obama proposals include reduced itemized deductions allowed for any individuals earning more than $200,000 a year ($250,000 for married couples) and included in that proposal, is a government plan that would take some of the money that would have gone to charity and instead funnel it to federal government spending.

The Effect Of Tax Increases

Tax rate increases more often than not bring in reduced tax dollars!

The Cato Institute’s Alan Reynolds demonstrated in his recent Wall Street Journal piece that the 28% tax rate on long-term capital gains brought in $36.9 billion a year from 1987 to 1997, while the current 15% rate in 2004 to 2007 brought in $96.8 billion per year.

Did Obama Change His Tune?

Last December when the president extended the Bush tax cuts, he acknowledged that tax hikes both slow economic growth and deter job creation, something he seems to have forgotten!

The higher taxes on energy producers are particularly discouraging, given the importance of energy to our economic recovery and the administration’s continued clampdown on energy production.

Can It Get Any Worse?

Sadly, "Yes".

In another measure that is counterproductive to economic growth, the Obama plan includes extending benefits for the long-term unemployed, even though studies show that long term employment benefits raise the unemployment rate from 0.5 to 1.5 percentage points.

President Obama has said that:

"Everything in [his new] bill will be paid for", and that it "will not add to the deficit".

But it will be paid for in the future, and the president is effectively saying that we should add some more to the deficit now in return for promises of future spending.

The Bottom Line

None of the administration’s programs bode well for the good or for the future of America or its people.

American Enterprise Institute’s Director of economic policy Kevin Hassett said earlier this month:

"The Obama administration’s position throughout this recovery has been that the U.S. can have the highest corporate tax on earth, a big regulatory crackdown, and a vast expansion of labor-union power and still expect a positive jobs story because of cash-for-clunkers and green jobs. This jobs report indicates how much damage that view has done".

In the end, the newest Obama proposals are proof that his recent centrist posturing was just that, posturing.

The new proposals are a continuation of the old Obama New Party (read communist) policies, and they are policies that sadly have extended the recession, stifled economic growth, and will for some years to come, weaken America!