July Jobs Reports & Summaries:
- July Summary: Report shows biggest increase in number of jobs in 5 months but unemployment edges up as fewer people report themselves as employed.
- Economy adds 163,000 jobs; more than the 100,000 jobs that economists predicted. Private sector jobs increase by 172,000; government jobs continue to decline; this month by 9,000.
- Unemployment increases slightly to 8.3% as fewer people report themselves as employed and 153,000 people re-enter the work force.
- Manufacturing jobs increase by 25,000; private service-producing jobs increase by 148,000.
- Unemployment rates for blacks and Hispanics decline with a 0.3% decrease for blacks and a 0.7% decrease for Hispanics.
- Number of unemployed increases by 45,000. Number of employed decreases by 195,000.
- Employment decreases the most among people with Bachelor's degrees, but unemployment decreases among people with Bachelor's degrees or higher as well.
- Employment dropped most among these groups: Men 25-34 years, men 45-54, women 45-54, and women 55+.
- Number of self-employed workers continues to rise.
- Unemployment drops the most among men 35-44. Unemployment increases the most among women 45-54 and women 55+.
- Number of full-time workers decreases by about 228,000, but we still have 2,300,000 more full-time workers than we did a year ago.
- Private, Government Jobs Gained, Lost Under Obama (September 2012 update)
- Private Government Jobs Gained/Lost Month by Month 2011 & 2012 (September 2012 updates)
- Jobs Lost/Created Year by Year Since 1999 (September 2012 Update)
- What Was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office? (September 2012 update)
Thank you for summarizing the facts. Welcome relief in this world of spin.
ReplyDeleteMy only quibble is that you are ignoring two key components to the argument:
1) We are losing ground on unemployment. We are not producing jobs fast enough for population growth.
2) Our current governmental policy to promote employment is coming at ENORMOUS cost - effectively tax increases on our children.
Sorry, Douglas, that I haven't replied to your comment from a few days back. I've been buried with work and buried with comments.
ReplyDelete1. I'm working on an article about how many jobs we need for population growth which I will post in the next day or two. My preliminary figure is that, because of the extensive aging of the population (over 90% of the increase in population is in the 55+ group), we only need about 70,000 jobs a month to keep pace. Anything more than that will cut into the jobs deficit of about 3,300,000 that still exists. As I said, I'm working on a blog entry that will explain all of that.
2. I don't comment that much on debt issues, as I don't feel I know enough about those issues to comment intelligently. But I fear widespread unemployment much more than I fear widespread debt. And I worry very much about our children's future... not because of debt, but because of rampant income and wealth inequality, lack of opportunity, and the increasing decimation of the middle class while the wealthiest among us accumulate more and more wealth. When the middle class is strong and employment is strong, deficits and debt goes down. We had a similar debt to GDP ratio after WWII, and the ascendancy of the middle class helped to reduce that debt significantly. The GI Bill, the Interstate highway system, high marginal taxes, social security, and other government programs helped to empower and grow the middle class. Money well spent.
I'm with Doug! Our debt is going to kill us. Every man, woman and child in this country would have to pony up over $50,000 to bail this country out. We collect about 70% of our budget via taxes. That pays for entitlements and running the government. It used to pay the interest on our debt but I think we are now borrowing money to pay the interest. Our military is totally funded with borrowed money!
ReplyDeleteWe can't tax our way out of this problem. President Obama’s proposed tax hike would raise roughly $65 billion in 2013. At the same time, the president proposes to increase spending next year by $202 billion. The tax hike would pay for only 32 percent of the proposed new spending.
We need to stop the spending! We can fix entitlements by raising the age that they kick in. Our life expectancy has increased a lot since these programs began. And we can get people back to work by approving the Canadian pipeline and opening up oil drilling along with coal. Obama has shut all this down and wasted money on green energy companies that went broke. Stupid! It might help if Obama would cut back on his personal spending a bit. Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion dollars on everything from staffing, housing, flying and entertaining President Obama and his family last year, according to the author of a new book on taxpayer-funded presidential perks. He's spending money like a drunken sailor but the difference is the sailor is spending his own money and Obama is spending ours.
In comparison, British taxpayers spent just $57.8 million on the royal family.