For me it's easier just to stick with the employment/population numbers:
The numbers are clear enough about the harm done by current policies, but this NYPost article is messed up. The writer says he's getting his stuff from the BLS--
...the report showed that about 50,000 of those new jobs — or 193,000 on a pre-adjusted basis — were based on government assumptions, not fact... ...This time of year, the assumptions include the outdated belief that companies hire workers in the spring and during Christmas and lay them off by the millions after the holiday season. That just doesn’t happen on a wide scale anymore.
--but he's not. Here's what the BLS actually says:
Numbers in thousands |
Not Seasonally Adjusted |
Seasonally Adjusted |
| Civilian noninstitutional population | 245,175 | 245,175 |
| Civilian labor force | 154,739 | 155,238 |
| Employed | 143,724 | 143,579 |
| unemployment rate | 7.1% | 7.5% |
| participation rate | 63.1% | 63.3% |
| employment percent population | 58.6% | 58.6% |
The BLS raw data has a 7.1% unemployment rate and it's the 7.5% that's got a seasonal adjustment. I mean, sure it's fun to call Obama names but it's more fun when we also try to make sense.