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ABCNews.com's Facebook Page Omits Biggest News from September Unemployment Report
NewsBusters.org ^ | September 6, 2013 | Ken Shepherd

Posted on 09/06/2013 12:42:36 PM PDT by Kaslin

Reporting on the latest unemployment reports by the U.S. government, ABCNews's Facebook page curiously left out the most newsworthy statistic: 63.2 percent. That's where the labor force participation rate stands right now. [see screen capture below the page break] It's the lowest it's been since 1978.

But here's how ABCNews's social media editors teased Facebook visitors:

The U.S. economy added 169,000 jobs in August -- a bit weaker than economists expected. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 7.3%: http://abcn.ws/17JQof4

The linked September 6 story, by Susanna Kim, noted that the labor force participation rate has been steadily declining on President Obama's watch (emphasis mine):

"Clearly the labor market is losing momentum," said Lindsey M. Piegza, managing director and chief economist at Sterne Agee, pointing out that the unemployment rate decreased for "inorganic reasons" as the labor force participation rate fell to 63.2 percent in August, the lowest since 1978.

The participation rate has fallen by 1.6 percentage points since the beginning of 2010.

"Some of this is due to the aging of the workforce but it reflects a weak labor market," said Stephen Bronars, senior economist at Welch Consulting. "The unemployment rate is declining for all the wrong reasons - people are dropping out of the workforce."

The difference in the unemployment rate between educated workers and workers with less schooling continues to widen. College grads face an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent while the unemployment rate is 11.3 percent for high school dropouts.

"There is some good news that more people are working full-time in August than in July, but generally this was a disappointing jobs report," Bronars said.

Given all that, a more engaging, enticing tease for Facebook fans of ABCNews.com would have been something like:

As the labor force participation rate hits a 35-year low, economists are warning that the unemployment rate, now at 7.3%, is "declining for all the wrong reasons." Read more here: http://abcn.ws/17JQof4

Of course, a tease like that would certainly hook in readers, but it would also use a hook unfavorable to President Obama.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: bias; mediabias; msm; unemployment; unexpected

1 posted on 09/06/2013 12:42:36 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

In essence....a bunch of dudes ain’t working. They aren’t paying taxes...social security....and they live very marginal lives. They don’t shop for cars, boats, or chainsaws. They live on a low-cost lifestyle....waiting for something to happen. They don’t have the premium cable package. They don’t go on vacations. They don’t buy any beer but the cheap stuff on discount.

The news media? I think they have missed the biggest story in ten years. Even the Benghazi episode....doesn’t match up to the enormous society barely existing in America.


2 posted on 09/06/2013 12:48:40 PM PDT by pepsionice
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To: Kaslin

A bit weaker than expected=UNEXPECTED!


3 posted on 09/06/2013 12:58:12 PM PDT by lowbridge
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To: Kaslin

Just an oversight, I’m sure.


4 posted on 09/06/2013 1:00:55 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Kaslin
GayBC News, isn't.

Its campaign rhetoric straight from the DNC.

5 posted on 09/06/2013 1:02:52 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: Kaslin

165,000 jobs is shy around 10% from the projected 180,000.

That is in a country of over 310 millions, or as they call it, a rounding error. There is no job growth, those who are educated can get a job, but generally they have to take crap jobs that college graduates wouldn’t touch a decade ago and all the workers at McDonalds are over fifty! AND PART TIME!


6 posted on 09/06/2013 1:07:30 PM PDT by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: Kaslin

Cookin’ the books.


7 posted on 09/06/2013 1:15:51 PM PDT by luvbach1 (We are finished.)
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To: Jim from C-Town

it’s even worse....

“The revised job growth for June and July shrank the gain for those months by a combined 74,000. July’s gain is now estimated at 104,000 — the fewest in more than a year and down from the previous estimate of 162,000. June’s figure was revised to 172,000 from 188,000.”


8 posted on 09/06/2013 4:25:52 PM PDT by stylin19a (Obama -> Fredo smart)
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