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The Discouraging Unemployment Picture

The Discouraging Unemployment Picture

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a great deal to say about the November 2011 unemployment numbers and the October numbers from the metro areas. The unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent from 9 percent in November. In October, the unemployment rates fell in 281 of the 372 metro areas the BLS watches. The pictures tell a far more discouraging tale. These graphs are from the BLS site, using their data. None of the graphs present … Read entire article »

Filed under: American Economy, Original writing, Reporting, Unemployment

Unemployment for July 2011

The slideshow illustrates the unemployment data for each July for the last decade, 2002 to 2011. … Read entire article »

Filed under: American Economy, Analysis, Original writing, Reporting, Unemployment

Black Unemployment in America Today

Black Unemployment in America Today

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has kept data on unemployment among American blacks since 1972. The record high rate of unemployment was in June 1983, 20.7%. The record low was in April 2000 at 7%. For June 2011 the black unemployment rate is 16.2%. The last thirty years have seen four peaks for black unemployment and three troughs. High % High Date Low % Low Date 20.7% June 1983 10.5% June 1990 14.7% May 1992 7.0% April 2000 11.5% June 2003 7.7% August 2007 The highest rate of black unemployment in the Obama … Read entire article »

Filed under: American Economy, Analysis, Original writing, Reporting, Unemployment

American Unemployment for January 2011

American Unemployment for January 2011

The January 2011 unemployment numbers have been released by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Statistic Record Month Record January 2011 January 2009 Change Civilian labor force October 2008 154,953,000 153,186,000 154,185,000 -999,000 Participation rate April 2000 67.30% 64.20% 65.70% -1.50% Unemployment rate April 2000 3.80% 9.00% 7.80% 1.20% White Unemployment June 2000 3.40% 8.00% 7.10% 0.90% Black Unemployment April 2000 7.00% 15.70% 12.70% 3.00% Hispanic Unemployment December 2006 5.00% 11.90% 9.90% 2.00% Average wks unemployed June 1969 7.7 36.9 19.9 17.0 Discouraged workers August 2000 203,000 993,000 734,000 -259,000 We have placed the records for each statistic into this table. The records clearly demonstrate the Clinton era boom when unemployment was extremely low. As prior stories have reported, the Bush era maintained near record lows until the … Read entire article »

Filed under: American Economy, Analysis, Original writing, Reporting, Unemployment

Obama Administration job claims

January2009 June2010 Change Employed 142,221,000 139,119,000 -3,102,000 LOSS Total Unemployed 12,653,000 15,830,000 3,177,000 INCREASE Unemployed 11,919,000 14,623,000 2,704,000 INCREASE Discouraged 734,000 1,207,000 473,000 INCREASE True unemployment rate 8.90% 11.38% INCREASE Participation rate 65.70% 64.70% -1.00% DROP Employment/Population ratio 60.60% 58.50% -2.10% DROP The White House and its allies have been touting the claims contained in the Council of Economic Advisers’ latest quarterly report that the Recovery Act is already responsible for 2.5 to 3.6 million – or about 3 million – jobs The table above was created using the data from the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. These are the government’s own numbers, used by their agencies and a wide variety of private businesses for planning and decision making. The number of Americans employed has decreased by over 3.1 million since the Obama administration took office. True unemployment, the total unemployed and the total discouraged from looking for work, has increased over the same time frame by nearly 3.2 million Americans. True unemployment includes those unemployed and looking … Read entire article »

Filed under: American Economy, Analysis, Original writing, Reporting, Unemployment

U.S. unemployment for June 2010

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has this to say about the employment / unemployment situation in June 2010: In June, about 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, an increase of 415,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 1.2 million discouraged workers in June, up by 414,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs … Read entire article »

Filed under: American Economy, Original writing, Reporting, Unemployment

White House claim: On the Road to Recovery

This is what our President has on the White House website as this story is written: Here are some graphs that more accurately portray the road we’re on. The graphs clearly show that the trend of “true” unemployment, the standard unemployment number plus the number of those who are discouraged and no longer looking for work, is not turning a corner. 2010 numbers show that there is still an increasing number of “true” unemployed despite the Census hirings. The number of employed month to month means nothing if the number of unemployed does not go down. … Read entire article »

Filed under: American Economy, Analysis, Original writing, Reporting, Unemployment

Unemployment for December 2008

With the release of the unemployment figures for December 2008, the era of the Bush economy can be said to have ended for comparative purposes. BLS link Here is how the Clinton years stack up against the Bush years. Average Monthly Unemployment Rates   ALL WOMEN BLACK HISPANIC Clinton Term I 6.00% 5.26% 11.33% 9.70% Clinton Term II 4.41% 3.94% 8.64% 6.77% Clinton Total 5.20% 4.60% 9.99% 8.23%           Bush Term I 5.51% 4.79% 10.01% 7.19% Bush Term II 5.03% 4.40% 9.32% 6.12% Bush Total 5.27% 4.59% 9.66% 6.66% In the eight years that Bill Clinton was President, the number of civilians employed increased by 14,694,000. In George Bush’s eight years in office that number was 11,199,000. While unemployment rates remain above any record lows, it is clear that the overall labor market since 1992 has improved for Blacks and Hispanics. It is also clear that education matters. The December overall unemployment rate for people without a high school diploma is 10.9%. The diploma reduces the rate to 7.7%. Having … Read entire article »

Filed under: American Economy, Analysis, Original writing, Reporting, Unemployment

Unemployment Numbers for October 2008

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics Total Civilian Work Force Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 240,000 in October, and the unemployment rate rose from 6.1 to 6.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. October’s drop in payroll employment followed declines of 127,000 in August and 284,000 in September, as revised. Employment has fallen by 1.2 million in the first 10 months of 2008; over half of the decrease has occurred in the past 3 months. In October, job losses continued in manufacturing, construction, and several service-providing industries. Health care and mining continued to add jobs. Unemployment (Household Survey Data) The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 6.5 percent in October, and the number of unemployed persons increased by 603,000 to … Read entire article »

Filed under: American Economy, Analysis, Original writing, Unemployment