Unemployment numbers are a wash

[59millionmorons]

There is nothing for Bush to brag about and not much there for Kerry to jump on. Looks to me that burger king did some hiring.

[DemNoir]

A wash indeed

As in we will all be working in car washes.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. They are a failure for Bush. He won't keep his promises on jobs.

[59millionmorons]

2. True

But I am talking about just this month. It is sort of like kissing your sister, no sparks.

[whistle]

3. Hello, unemployment is higher by 1.6 million workers....

...according to BSL numbers
<Snip>
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of unemployed persons, 8.0 million, and the unemployment
rate, 5.4 percent, were little changed from July to August. The jobless rate
is down from its recent high of 6.3 percent in June 2003; most of this decline
occurred in the second half of last year. In August, the unemployment rates
for the major worker groups--adult men (5.0 percent), adult women (4.7 percent),
teenagers (17.0 percent), whites (4.7 percent), blacks (10.4 percent), and
Hispanics or Latinos (6.9 percent)--showed little change over the month. The
unemployment rate for Asians was 3.6 percent in August, not seasonally adjusted.
(See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment held at 139.7 million in August, and the employment-pop-
ulation ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and over with jobs--
was essentially unchanged at 62.4 percent. The civilian labor force was about
unchanged over the month at 147.7 million. After rising in July, the labor
force participation rate edged down to its June level of 66.0 percent. (See
table A-1.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The number of persons who were marginally attached to the labor force was
1.6 million in August, about the same as a year earlier. (Data are not sea-
sonally adjusted.) These individuals wanted and were available to work and


had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted
as unemployed, however, because they did not actively search for work in the
4 weeks preceding the survey. There were 534,000 discouraged workers in
August, also about the same as a year earlier. Discouraged workers, a subset
of the marginally attached, were not currently looking for work specifically
because they believed no jobs were available for them. The other 1.1 million
marginally attached had not searched for work for reasons such as school or
family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

This tells me that the unemployment rate is more like 9.6 million or really 6.4%. Then there is the issue of death/birth adjustments and the fact that the 144,000 new jobs numbers is 80% fudge factor. It is right about one thing, nothing has changed.

[Sydnie]

5. Do you have a link for that info? I'd like to read the whole thing. n/t

[whistle]

6. Sure, I sould have put that on the post....

<link> http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

[drumwolf]

4. agreed

The numbers won't help Bush for sure, but I was hoping they'd hurt him more than I think they will.