Unemployment Rate Actually Below Average Not Doom And Gloom As Reported

reply to post by blimpseeker


Sorry to interrupt here but, actually is the highest since 2004 and the biggest lost since 1984.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. unemployment rate jumped by a half percentage point to 5.5% in May on the biggest increase in seasonally adjusted unemployment in 33 years, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls fell by 49,000 in May, the fifth consecutive decrease and in line with expectations of economists. The economy has lost 324,000 jobs so far this year. Unemployment rose by 861,000 to 8.5 million, the government said. The 0.5 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate was a shock, as economists expected a much smaller 0.1 percentage point gain to 5.1%. The jobless rate is the highest since October 2004. It was the biggest percentage point gain in unemployment since 1986.

www.marketwatch.com...

reply to post by marg6043

marg, marg, marge...sweet marg..look at 1993 would you please?
data.bls.gov...

and please remind me...who was in office at that time?

did we hear reports about how high the unemployment rate was back then??????

data.bls.gov... this survey does not exist?

Originally posted by blimpseeker

did we hear reports about how high the unemployment rate was back then??????

Did you not understand what someone earlier said? When your unemployment benefits run out they take you off the list. So all the people that were unemployed last year and are still unemployed do not effect the list of the unemployed.

Also to tell someone to get a better education is the Gov line from the 1980's when they let our country start bleeding its factory jobs overseas. It was a pacifier to keep the masses from doing something about it by voting the crooks out of office.

Grow up kid.

I think that the OP is just trying to ruffle some feathers. Times are tough. Maybe not for him, or his neighbors....yet. Just wait. My boyfriend and I work on the 'front lines' of the economy....the canary in the coal mine...sales. I'm telling you, the economy is bad. We are under extreme pressure right now. I'm almost certain that the company I work for will be closing its doors within the next six months. They've cut some benefits, bonuses, cost of living increases, etc. I am looking for a new job....

Please don't ask me which company I work for. It's not good for business.

OP, I think you are missing the point entirely. Does it matter what a government chart says? When a gallon of gas is $4.00, a loaf of bread costs 50% more than it did 6 months ago, and a few of your neighbors are losing their homes....a chart is as worthless as the paper it's printed on. It's harder now, than it was last year to keep money in the bank. PERIOD. END OF STORY.

reply to post by pureevil81
weird...
but here is the chart

people seem to have misinterpreted my intentions when i posted this thread.
i will say it again, I NEVER SAID THE ECONOMY ISN'T BAD.
what i said is that the media is hyping up the numbers and spinning it doom and gloom.

all you have to do is look at the info i have provided and you will see it is true.

reply to post by blimpseeker


Ok - let me jump in on this one.

I work in a field that allows me to see - or rather hear - first hand what the economy and job market is like.

You see, I am a student loan debt collector. I have that oh so lovely job of trying to get people who have defaulted on their student loans to pay.

My job is based on numbers. Number of accounts I cure. Amount of money I bring in. Number of accounts I keep in the programs I set up.

Here is what I have heard for a long time now.

"My house is being foreclosed, I was laid off and my unemployment barely pays to keep my utilities on. I am already on assistance from the state for food and medical and I am sinking fast. I cannot, simply cannot, set up in a program right now."

Of course, that is from the ones willing to talk to me.. I do have those that resort to the less civilized way of letting me know they cannot set up in programs right now.

Now keep in mind, the program I am offering to people is 5.00 a month. FIVE DOLLARS A MONTH. And I have a hard time convincing people to send in that five when they need it for gas for their car - or a gallon of milk - or a loaf of bread.

The pressure is on at my job. Those that cannot meet the goals of the client (in my cash 300.000 a month) will find themselves without jobs. Hell, for the first time I have ever known.. they are not running a training class ... they are not hiring! And that is odd because call center work has a very, very high turn over rate.

Do not tell me that unemployment is not as bad as it is reported. I know better. I talk to the people all day, every day. Do not tell me that it is all doom and gloom reporting to scare people. It is not a scare tactic. It is happening. It is actually worse than we are being told. And it is only going to get worse.

VV

Actually, blimp, I don't think the MSM is painting a bleak enough picture.
I think things are worse than is being presented.
It just hasn't spread to the entire country yet.

Maybe it won't.
But what will replace all the manufacturing jobs that have been allowed to bleed away from this country?
What will support the country?
We can't all be in retail, healthcare and other NON-manufacturing jobs?

What does this country MAKE anymore??

And, btw, I am no liberal.

reply to post by ValhallasValkyrie


is the economy bad? yes i agree it is.
is the unemployment bad? yes it is bad
is the worst we have faced? NO, NOT BY A LONGSHOT and that is the point i am making, 1992/3 had around a 7% unemployment rate.

what people are fraking out about is mostly the housing bubble thatbursted and symptoms from it are widespread. the unemployment rate is not the fault of the problem, it is a result of the problem.

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
Actually, blimp, I don't think the MSM is painting a bleak enough picture.
I think things are worse than is being presented.
It just hasn't spread to the entire country yet.

Maybe it won't.
But what will replace all the manufacturing jobs that have been allowed to bleed away from this country?
What will support the country?
We can't all be in retail, healthcare and other NON-manufacturing jobs?

What does this country MAKE anymore??

And, btw, I am no liberal.

the msm is overhyping the unemployment figures. that is a fact.

do we face hard times? yes. but we will get through them. just let the government step out of our way and americans will rebound. put more government in our way and things will be tougher.
something to remember:
government is not the solution, government is the problem.

and btw, this is not an anti-liberal thread.

reply to post by blimpseeker


What part of "once the unemployment checks stop coming, you are no longer counted" do you not understand??

How many people are out there without jobs and without unemployment??? Do you know? Have you factored that into your ideology that this is not the worst?

I can answer two of those questions for you. You do not know and you did not factor them into you ideaology.

Your reports are flawed until they take into account all those not working and not on unemployment.

VV

you see what everyone is saying blimpseeker.........is there any vacancy in your candy coated world?

Originally posted by ValhallasValkyrie
reply to post by blimpseeker

 

What part of "once the unemployment checks stop coming, you are no longer counted" do you not understand??
VV

so do you think this also could have occured in 92/93?

spin it however you want to, facts are facts fella.

I took economics 101 and 102 only, a loooong time ago but this is an age old debate as far as i can remember, but it seems that a lot of the figures used are also based upon a survey of households by the department of labor, I don't trust too many surveys myself.

I think that the big factor is there are a lot of people that work under the table and get cash and they do provide services that as a cumulative number more than likely have and impact, anyhow I think these numbers aren't counted in, there are a lot of jobs that have gone away that were fueling the economy the last 5-10 years and a lot especially in construction were filled by immigrants or possibly illegal immigrants, in many cases if they are out of work they don't file and are not counted.

There are many that cannot find work and either do not file or after their benefits run out they stop looking.

It is rather hard to get ones arms around those numbers because they would assist in getting a real figure there is real data and reports about the drying up of construction related jobs over the past quarter and that is real because it is in step with the housing slump.

I think that the figures do get revised though so it might go up or down based upon better statistics, I generally agree that a lot more people that are not office workers or fortunate not to have been hit with a layoff are finding it harder and harder to keep their jobs or find a new one I generally feel that the job market is softening based upon looking at available jobs and hiring on certain job related sites the gloom and doom does seem to be a reality for more people, does anyone work at an unemployment office?

[edit on 6-6-2008 by phinubian]

Originally posted by blimpseeker

what people are fraking out about is mostly the housing bubble thatbursted and symptoms from it are widespread. the unemployment rate is not the fault of the problem, it is a result of the problem.

No its not what people are freaking out about. Even if the unemployment was at an all time low the good paying jobs that our fellow American rely upon to feed themselves and there family's have been replaced by low paying service jobs designed to support a teenager.

I lived in the early 90's. This is so much worse right now. Michigan is dieing...it wasn't dieing then. I am 45 years old and have never seen such a drop in the standard of living.

America is being fleeced and the world bankers eyes are on China and India and they will fleece this place to build those places.

We wake up now or we become a 3rd world country.

reply to post by blimpseeker


And during those years, were people losing their home to foreclosures at the rates that is happening now? or the housing bubble was killing the banks and the economy? prompting the Fed to do unprecedented actions to save the butts of the Banking system? or our nation manufacturing base was depleted? How about oil prices back then.

How about our national debt and government spending. This time I am afraid that the worst is compiling and the cause and effect is now unstoppable.

Now now, this is ATS. Doom and gloom are the only things allowed around here. Your data and logic are not welcome (unless it favors doom and gloom)!

It never fails to amaze me how the majority of ATS clings to doom and gloom, and will do everything to literally ignore ALL data to the contrary. Anyone who suggests the end ISNT nigh will be bashed, insulted, and generally trashed as the OP has been (and as I am about to be).

Yes, the unemployment data ONLY COUNTS THOSE WITHOUT A JOB AND CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR ONE. However, we are looking at this measure adjusted over time - it doesn't really matter because all the time periods we are looking at include that factor and the doom and gloomers have no evidence to suggest that particular variable would be different in this time period as compared to any other. If we were looking across time periods in which the rate was measured in a inconsistent fashion, the doom and gloomers would have a point - but we're not.

So many here think they are denying ignorance, and yet the only thing they are doing is completely embracing the ignorance hand fed to them by the mass media.

[edit on 6-6-2008 by ALightinDarkness]

Originally posted by blimpseeker
do we face hard times? yes. but we will get through them. just let the government step out of our way and americans will rebound. put more government in our way and things will be tougher.
something to remember:
government is not the solution, government is the problem.

and btw, this is not an anti-liberal thread.

I get it now. This whole thread is preemptive damage control on behalf of the GOP. It's not about employment it's about parroting Rush and Sean and trying to paint a rosy picture, trying to keep McCain from being tied to the corruption and greed of the current administration who caused the
economic downturn in the first place.

The old "blame the media ploy"

www.abovetopsecret.com...


[edit on 6-6-2008 by whaaa]

Originally posted by whaaa
I get it now. This whole thread is preemptive damage control on behalf of the GOP. It's not about employment it's about parroting Rush and Sean and trying to paint a rosy picture, trying to keep McCain from being tied to the corruption and greed of the current administration who caused the
economic downturn in the first place.

no...this thread is about the msm hyping up doom and gloom of the unemployment numbers. (pay attention i have said it repeatedly)

i do not vote republican unless they have the better nominee. this year it seems the best nominee is no longer running.

McCain is just a democrat in republican clothing.