THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- SEPTEMBER 2012
The unemployment rate decreased to 7.8 percent in September, and total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 114,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care and in transportation and warehousing but changed little in most other major industries.
Household Survey Data
The unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage point to 7.8 percent in September. For the first 8 months of the year, the rate held within a narrow range of 8.1 and 8.3 percent. The number of unemployed persons, at 12.1 million, decreased by 456,000 in September. (See table A-1.)
The Underemployed number did not change (still 14.7%.) The number of new jobs was 114,000. It was predicted by economists to be 110-120,000. It was predicted by the BLS to be 115,000. And, since we need about 205,000 new jobs in order to move the needle by -0.1 everyone was saying, 115,000 jobs will keep us at 8.2, maybe even uptick slightly.
This story is almost as flimsy as a "spontaneous demonstration" resulting in the death of the Ambassador to Libya. Not even victims of the American public school system can possibly suffer from the degree of innumeracy required to swallow this line.
Ok, these numbers don’t make sense.
456,000 less unemployed than previous month
114,000 got jobs (probably part-time, low wage jobs)
So, where did the other 342,000 or 2.8% of the nation’s unemployed go in one month?
I know.. I know... they’ve retired and are now living the good-life in Kokomo. What a crock of ******!