So today the government touted the fact that the U.S. jobless rate fell to 9.4 percent in December, the lowest level in 19 months.
The economy added 103,000 jobs last month, after producing 71,000 in November. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Unfortunately most analysts were expecting the economy to add about 175,000 jobs. December is a month we usually see a spike in new jobs as retailers and package delivery firms add large numbers of seasonal workers. Analysts expected December 2010 would be just like any other December, and after November’s performance 175,000 jobs would have been a reasonable expectation. However, the small increase from November is actually very bad news.
Just to keep the “true” unemployment rate stable, the economy needs to add about 125,000 jobs a month to keep up with population growth. The number of jobs has to more than double that amount to reduce the rate.
Most of the new jobs — 103,000 — came from the private sector while the government shed 10,000. That would be the one piece of good news…but that would be it.
And now for the lies. The drop in the unemployment rate was affected by the fact that the government no longer counts people as unemployed when they stop looking for work. So if you’re so frustrated that you stop looking, our government doesn’t consider you as unemployed any longer. What a crock! That’s like saying a team that gives up in the middle of the game didn’t lose. Please!
So the economic wizards in our government hit the streets touting an improvement in the economy that doesn’t exist, just for political gain. Excuse me, but aren’t these the same people that said that keeping tax rates the same represented a tax break for the rich?
You can expect that these same folks will stop counting people who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer as ill and announce that we’ve had a huge drop in the cancer rate!
Truth seems be something of a rarity in Washington I’m afraid. It doesn’t really matter how bad the news really is, as long as they can come up with some rational that its heading in the right direction. Truth. You’re more likely to trip over a diamond on Pennsylvania Avenue that find it in our Nation’s Capital.