Friday, May 4, 2012

How To Lower The Unemployment Rate By Only Adding 119,000 New Jobs

This morning, the nation's unemployment rate dropped from 8.2% to 8.1%.  In order for that to have happened, the economy should have added more than 450,000 new jobs.  But, instead, only 119,000 were added last month.  So, how was the unemployment rate able to improve?  Well, it was all because 522,000 workers just gave up looking for work last month and were no longer considered part of the workforce.  Because of this, the April could have actually "lost" 72,000 jobs and the unemployment rate would still have fallen to 8.1%.

Sadly, this morning's reported unemployment rate is a pure distortion from which Mr. Obama is unjustly benefiting.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

good thing the GOP hasn't done anything in the US House to help.

And tax cuts don't have a multiplier the way spending does. Way to mess that up too GOP.

Also, read Calculated Risk my friend. There will be dropping participation rates as baby boomers get older.

But, hey, don't let facts get in the way of your GOP colored glasses.

George B said...

I won't let the "true" facts get in my way. By 2029 the last of the baby boomers will reach retirement age and, at that point, they will only represent 16% of the population; meaning that the impact on the workforce is only 16%. But still, the workforce will still be growing at an estimated rate of .54% based on population growth. While it is true that the baby boomer retirement rate affects workforce size, the fact is that, right now, workforce growth is still growing by .97%; net of baby boomer retirement. This of course is lower than the workforce growth of the 1990's at 1.23% before the baby boomer started leaving the workforce. The fact is that, since Obama took office, the workforce has remained flat at 154 million workers when it should have grown to 160 million worker or more. You need to also consider the fact that the workforce is impacted by the U.S. issuing 1/2 million new work visa per year. And, legal immigration accounts for 1.1 to 1.3 million people per year with between 40% and 50% of that number entering the workforce; depending on the average family size for a given year's immigration pool. Don't forget, immigrants can only enter the U.S. Legally if they are sponsored with a promise of a job. Your stupidity on workforce participation rate is just that...my "friend"!