Reply With Quoteanother sneaky trick and I don 't how wide spread it is, but they are moving people off of unemployment and onto disability
US April Job Report 115,000 Actual, 160,000 Consensus
Notes:
- U.S. April nonfarm payrolls rise smallest since oct 2011 (+112,000); jobless rate lowest since jan 2009 (7.8 pct)
- Us April Private Sector Jobs +130,000 (Cons +175,000), March +166,000 (Prev +121,000)
- People Not In Labor Force Soar By 522,000, Labor Force Participation Rate Lowest Since 1981
- Consensus had been 160k. Unemployment rate came in at 8.1 per cent. March payrolls revised up from 120k to 154k though, and February up from 240k to 259k.
Both the number of unemployed persons (12.5 million) and the unemployment rate (8.1 percent) changed little in April. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.5 percent), adult women (7.4 percent), teenagers (24.9 percent), whites (7.4 percent), and Hispanics (10.3 percent) showed little or no change in April, while the rate for blacks (13.0 percent) declined over the month. The jobless rate for Asians was 5.2 percent in April (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was little changed at 5.1 million in April. These individuals made up 41.3 percent of the unemployed. Over the year, the number of long-term unemployed has fallen by 759,000. (See table A-12.)
The civilian labor force participation rate declined in April to 63.6 percent, while the employment-population ratio, at 58.4 percent, changed little. (See table A-1.)
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
Last edited by PassKey; 05-04-2012 at 09:02 AM.
another sneaky trick and I don 't how wide spread it is, but they are moving people off of unemployment and onto disability
The 86 million invisible unemployed
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- There are far more jobless people in the United States than you might think.While it's true that the unemployment rate is falling, that doesn't include the millions of nonworking adults who aren't even looking for a job anymore. And hiring isn't strong enough to keep up with population growth.
As a result, the labor force is now at its smallest size since the 1980s when compared to the broader working age population.
"We've been getting some job growth and it's been significant, but it hasn't yet been strong enough that you start to get people re-engaging in the labor market," said Keith Hall, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Job market dropouts
A person is counted as part of the labor force if they have a job or have looked for one in the last four weeks. Only about 64% of Americans over the age of 16 currently fall into that category, according to the Labor Department. That's the lowest labor force participation rate since 1984.
It's a worrisome sign for the economy and partly explains why theunemployment rate has been falling recently. Only people looking for work are considered officially unemployed.
Jason Everett, for example, wouldn't be counted.
Out of work for nearly three years now, Everett has given up his job search altogether.
Instead, the unemployed plumber and Air Force veteran takes a few community college courses and looks after his two children while his wife is the primary breadwinner.
"I'm not even totally convinced the college degree is really going to help at this point, but I figure at least I'll be doing something," he said.
The unofficially unemployed
Last year there were 86 million people who didn't have a job and weren't consistently looking for one, according to Labor Department data.
Older people, ages 65 and over, account for more than a third. Young people between 16 and 24 make up another fifth. More than half don't have a college degree and more than two thirds are white.
Many of the teens and 20-somethings may be enrolled in either high school or college full-time. And many of the over 65 crowd are probably retired.
But what about the other 36 million folks who fall in between?
The truth is, the Labor Department simply doesn't know why they're not in the labor force. Many may be staying home with children or other relatives. Some may have gone back to school or retraining programs. Others could be disabled and unable to work, and some may have retired early.
"Even in the best of times, there are millions of people who don't want to work for a variety for reasons," Hall said.
But he suspects the number of "disengaged" Americans, like Everett, is higher than usual as a direct result of the recession.
About six million people claim they want a job, even though they haven't looked for one in the last four weeks. If they were to all start applying for work again, the unemployment rate would suddenly shoot up above 11%.
Check the unemployment rate in your state
"At this point, the labor market is worse than people realize because people are discouraged. Certainly, a large number of workers have given up on the job market," Hall said.
That said, the decline in labor force participation is not a new problem. After peaking at 67.3% in early 2000, the rate has been falling ever since.
Researchers at the Chicago Federal Reserve attribute a large part of the decline to the recent recession and lackluster recovery, but the other half to long-term demographic trends.
For example, as more women entered the labor force between the 1960s and 1990s, the participation rate rose rapidly. That effect may have plateaued since then.
Meanwhile, as Baby Boomers entered their prime working years, they also drove the participation rate higher. Once they started hitting their 50s and 60s though, many started transitioning into retirement.
Finally, teenage jobs have been on the decline and college enrollment picked up in the last decade, leading more young people to not be counted in the labor force.
As these trends continue, the Chicago Fed expects the labor force participation rate will keep falling, hitting 62.4% by 2020.
That poses a problem for a variety of reasons.
It hits tax revenue and makes it harder to fund social safety nets like Social Security. Not to mention, it's likely to increase income inequality.
Most importantly though, it makes the U.S. economy less productive andweighs on growth
Extend and pretend. The reality is that your average voter doesn't know **** and gobbles up what the media outlets twist. The numbers are worse and the BLS is not adjusting for what is going on in the workforce, especially the 300,000 per month that are turning 65 and eligible for social security.
What does that mean?Originally Posted by HK in AK
I don't like that four week rule. Only if you have been looking in the last four weeks are you counted. That's kinda bogus. You have to draw a line somewhere though. You can't count everybody who is out of work as unemployed. Some want to work, some don't. Some are looking, some are not. Considering how hard it is, the statisticians are doing a good job IMO. It ain't easy.
I wonder if the Romney campaign with put a spotlight on the shell game. Seems like they'd benefit from exposing the bull$hit numbers.
They probably are doing a good job analyzing the data they have to analyze. It is not them that manipulating the figures by playing games like temporarily hiring people for the census bureau (to reduce unemployment) and/or moving people from unemployment to disability and thus removing them from the unemployment pool.the statisticians are doing a good job IMO
Until he's elected, then this little trick might suit him.
precisely 12345
How is hiring people for the census a game? It happens every 10 years. It is mandated, it gets done. What game did you see there?
Have you every gone through the process in order to receive disability? You can't just move people to disability when you like it. More people are applying for it, but they are not just "moved" there.
Point out the flaws, point up what you'd do differently. Finding all these conspiracies in everything this administration does, is just getting annoying. I mean, there must be something that was done, where you can point out concrete examples. Are they the first ones to use this method of counting? Are they fudging numbers? Are they counting more people working than there really are? Something.
I'd think he'd be better off to put the spotlight on it and be honest about it.
I don't think the American public can handle the truth.
What truth?
They need to hear it. Maybe then they'd stop tolerating all the bull$hit from the media. (Hey, I can dream)
Most people look at the %Change and see the downtick and say wow unemployment rate is going down, that's great news. But when looking at the labor participation rate decreasing, the number of people out of the labor force, and the downtick in month-to-month job gains there is nothing positive to see in this report.
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