Unemployment Figures Inspire Hope (Updated x2)
[Guest post by DRJ]
Today’s unemployment figures from the Labor Department show workers are losing jobs at a slower rate:
“Federal figures released Friday showed that the rate fell from 10.2 percent in October to 10 percent as employers shed the fewest number of jobs since the recession began two years ago. The government also said far fewer jobs were lost in September and October than first reported.
And the so-called underemployment rate, counting part-time workers who want full-time jobs and laid-off workers who have given up their job hunt, also fell, from 17.5 percent in October to 17.2 percent.”
November saw job losses of 11,000 compared to 111,000 lost jobs in October 2009. November’s job losses were the lowest since December 2007.
— DRJ
UPDATE: Black unemployment reaches Great Depression levels:
“The Black unemployment rate is officially 15.7 percent nationwide compared to 9.5 percent for whites. *** Joblessness for 16-to-24-year old Black men has reached Great Depression proportions — 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population according to the Center for Labor Market Studies.”
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are not happy and want President Obama to know it:
“In what is being portrayed as a direct rebuke of the White House’s lack of response to the deepening unemployment meltdown, Rep. Maxine Waters D-California, chair of the powerful Financial Services sub committee killed a scheduled November 19 vote on President Barack Obama’s financial regulation reform bill.
***
Waters led a bloc of African American House Democrats angry and frustrated that the Obama administration is mired in heated partisan battles over healthcare reform, war troop levels and fixing Wall Street and is not doing enough to address the plight of Blacks and Browns on Main Street. The groups have been hit much harder than any other by unemployment.”
UPDATE 2: The Instapundit has a jobs chart showing what the Obama Administration promised vs what it delivered.
Sounds to me that they are just running out of jobs to lose…
Gazzer (f4dafa) — 12/4/2009 @ 6:52 pmWell I hope those people know they will be fired the first 2 weeks of the New Year.
Mr. Pink (532d43) — 12/4/2009 @ 6:58 pmSame as Gazzer. They have been waiting for the short term Christmas hired so they could pat themselves on the back. They’re also counting on seasonal employment to start in Apr so they can brag the second quarter is an improvement. Bet they don’t mention the 50%+ unemployment rate for teens. All I see from D.C. is lies and the liars who tell them.
Scrapiron (4e0dda) — 12/4/2009 @ 7:01 pmThe sectors with the largest increases in employment were public education and temporary work. Not really confidence inspiring.
JD (7320ea) — 12/4/2009 @ 7:01 pmUnfortunately, the margin of error is greater than the supposed change from the previous month. The reality is that the employment rate is unchanged within the margin of error of these figures.
SPQR (26be8b) — 12/4/2009 @ 7:04 pmStuff like this is how you know Associated Press propaganda slut Jeannine Aversa is under orders to whore for more stimulus.
happyfeet (2c63dd) — 12/4/2009 @ 7:24 pmfigures lie and liars figure.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 12/4/2009 @ 8:31 pmSo, as I am to surmise, the good news is out-of-work people couldn’t get jobs and quit trying.
When, oh when, are people going to realize the government can’t create jobs because it can’t create wealth?
Wait, I’m wrong. The government can create jobs. And it can pay those employed by script. But it can’t create wealth.
It’s not that hard to understand.
Let me put this in the most simplest terms for, you know, the usual trolls.
Pretend for a moment that wealth is Bella. Edward is in need of a lot of capital — a whole lot of capital — but he loves Bella. So, he can’t just take all of Bella’s capital, because it would kill her. So, what is Edward to do?
Well, he goes searching around for other means of capital. I mean, he can’t kill Bella, because he loves her.
So, he extracts his capital from bears and bulls and other dumb animals. And everything is fine until the werewolves show up.
So he has to go away in shame to protect Bella. But, eventually, the bears and bulls will be exhausted. The werewolves retreat because of the awesomeness of Edward.
But, there’s Bella. And Edward is hungry.
Ha, ha. Just a joke.
Ag80 (3d1543) — 12/4/2009 @ 9:03 pmI’ve updated the post with an article on how unemployment has affected blacks.
DRJ (dee47d) — 12/4/2009 @ 9:30 pmIt was a good month for public schools to use stimulus funds.
JD (855966) — 12/4/2009 @ 9:43 pmI wonder what the black support for o will be when black unemployment reaches 100%.
Jim (582155) — 12/4/2009 @ 10:00 pmUnfortunately, the typical Maxine Waters/Black Congressional Congress idea for increasing employment in the minority community generally involves more government jobs. In an era in which post offices are closing and unskilled labor is the domain of illegal immigrants, I don’t see how much can be done to help alleviate this unemployment problem.
JVW (0fe413) — 12/4/2009 @ 10:23 pmSo when did the Congressional Black Caucus become such a bunch of racists? They should knno better than to criticize the Patron Saint of Really Good Teleprompter Reading.
Sean P (579fd6) — 12/4/2009 @ 10:59 pm“know” not “knno”. Don’t ask.
Sean P (579fd6) — 12/4/2009 @ 10:59 pmI’ve added Update 2 with an Instapundit link.
DRJ (dee47d) — 12/4/2009 @ 11:04 pm“Sounds to me that they are just running out of jobs to lose…”
Boy you really nailed that unemployment “rate” thing.
imdw (490521) — 12/4/2009 @ 11:10 pmdon’t ask, don’t knno, don’t tell…… %-)
/just another funemployed blog poster.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 12/5/2009 @ 4:18 am“The Black unemployment rate is officially 15.7 percent nationwide compared to 9.5 percent for whites.”
Elections have consequences right?
HeavenSent (01a566) — 12/5/2009 @ 4:40 amLower skilled workers hardest hit, it’s always the case. Business will gravitate to using the higher skilled, to try and pull up per worker productivity. But the real problem is the hunkered down customers, underwater homeowners, and the generally bad climate caused by the government for business. If you do not know what the future will hold on the tax side, you do not invest in new products.
BTW, workers are an expense, not a goal.
bill-tb (365bd9) — 12/5/2009 @ 5:18 amLet’s see, we’ve got 10% general unemployment and 15% African-American unemployment yet at least 10% of the US consists of foreign workers. Maybe it’s time to reform immigration with a view to sending some of the ‘guest’ workers home.
JReece (822b1b) — 12/5/2009 @ 7:38 amI wonder what the black support for o will be when black unemployment reaches 100%.
Same as it ever was – 100% support, right down the line. He knows he has them completely in the bag, no matter what complaints they lob his way.
Dmac (a964d5) — 12/5/2009 @ 9:35 amIf you take a look at the data points on the Instapundit chart, and apply simple curve-smoothing, it looks a LOT like the October unemployment number was exaggerated and the November number is one more in a long string of moderate upward moves in the unemployment rate, rather than a “drop.”
In other words, the trend is for continued upward movement, perhaps a bit slower than in mid-year, and the big October jump was a statistical anomaly that makes the November number look like a decline, when it is NOT.
Kevin Murphy (3c3db0) — 12/5/2009 @ 12:12 pmPrediction: December rate of 10.1 and January rate of 10.2.
Kevin Murphy (3c3db0) — 12/5/2009 @ 12:15 pmKevin’s analysis is dead on IMO.
SPQR (26be8b) — 12/5/2009 @ 7:51 pm