Job Openings, Layoffs, Turnovers January 2013

April 2013 jobs numbers have been released Friday, May 3rd.  Updates throughout the day listed HERE. 

The Lowest Number of Layoffs and Discharges Since the JOLTS Report Has Been Produced (starting in 2000):

1,507,000 people were laid off or discharged from their jobs in January 2013.  This is the lowest number of monthly "layoffs and discharges" since the report has been produced.  This makes sense, as the number of first time unemployment claims also declined in January.  We still don't know how much the sequester will impact the jobs numbers going forward. 

Here's the graph from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website:

Hires, Job Openings Good for January

The number of hires in January was 4,247,000.  While not a record, this represents the biggest number of hires in January for the past five years.   

Job Openings were 3,693,000 in January.  Again, not a record, but the highest number of job openings in January for the past five years.  

People Quitting Their Jobs Is a Good Thing.

2,218,000 people quit their jobs in January.  This was the highest number of quits since November 2008.  This is always a good sign, as people don't quit their jobs unless they have another job to go to or they anticipate that they can get another job fairly easily.

Here's the Quits graph from the BLS website:

All in all, this was a good JOLTS report, but it shows us nothing unexpected.  JOLTS data is always a month behind the regular BLS numbers.

What Was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office? (January 2013 update)

March 2013 reports will be released Friday, April 5th.  Check back then!

Please click HERE for all published jobs reports and updates for 2011, 2012, and 2013 to date. 

What was the unemployment rate when Bush left office and Obama was inaugurated? 7.8%

What was the unemployment rate after Obama's first full month in office (February 2009)?  8.3%

What was the unemployment rate at peak?  10.0%

What is today's (January 2013's) unemployment rate?   7.9%

All January 2013 Jobs News Highlights Indexed HERE

All Latest Jobs and Unemployment Reports HERE

How many people were looking for work when Obama was inaugurated; how many were working?  And how many people are looking for work and how many are employed now?

• Read below the graph.

• 
  The following chart shows the unemployment rate in three month intervals plus month-by-month for the latest three months:  

Why are there two lines, one for "Seas Adjusted" and one for "Unadjusted"?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses seasonal adjustments to adjust for the volatility in the labor market from one month to the next.  The relatively even red line above shows the unemployment rate based on seasonally adjusted numbers.  The jagged green line shows the unemployment rate based on "real", "raw" numbers; the unadjusted rate.  Notice that the green line goes up in January (after holiday layoffs) and July (school-related layoffs), and it goes down in October and April, which are strong months for workers.  (Employees are all back to school in October, and employers are staffing up for the holidays.  Schools are also full in April and employers are starting to staff up for summer, construction, vacation venues, etc.)  The red line helps us to compare the unemployment rate over a period of months; the green line, however, reflects "reality":  Your friends, neighbors, and family members actually working or not working.  

Private & Government Jobs Gained & Lost Under Obama (January 2013 update)

JUNE 2013 BLS Jobs Numbers and Unemployment Rate were released today, Friday, July 5th.  Details and links HERE!!

This report has been updated for JUNE 2013 HERE!!

How many jobs (total, private, and government) have been lost or gained since Obama was inaugurated?  

• 4,311,000 TOTAL jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST in from the time Obama took office until the "trough" of the recession in early 2010.  That's a decrease of 3.2%.    
• 5,505,000 jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were CREATED from the "trough" of the recession until now, January 2013.  That's an increase of 4.3%.
• In total, 1,194,000  jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were ADDED from the time Obama took office until now, January 2013.  That's an increase of 0.9%.
• We have experienced 28 months WITHOUT job losses since September 2010.  We have ADDED 4,897,000 jobs during those 28 months. 
• We now have 134, 825,000 TOTAL non-farm jobs. 

*  These are all net figures, meaning that they represent the total number of jobs at the end of a reporting period.  All losses have been subtracted from all gains and vice verse.

*  For the purposes of comparison, jobs are being added at a faster clip under Obama than under George Bush at the same time in his presidency.  At this point in Bush's presidency (January 2005), there were still 150xx,000 FEWER jobs than when he was inaugurated in January 2001 (compared to 84xx6,000 MORE for Obama).  The number of jobs didn't eclipse the number when Bush was first inaugurated until February 2005, in Bush's second term.    

How Many Jobs Lost or Added Under Obama? (January 2013 update)

How Many Jobs Were Created or Added in 2012?

January 2013 Jobs News Highlights
804,000 More Jobs!
Labor Force Participation: Separating the Truth From Lies

How many PRIVATE sector jobs have been lost or gained since Obama was inaugurated?

• 4,198,000 PRIVATE-sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until the "trough" of the recession in early 2010.  That's a decrease of 3.8%.
• 6,111,000 PRIVATE-sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were GAINED OR CREATED from the "trough" of the recession until now, January 2013.  That's an increase of 5.7%.
• In total, 1,913,000 private sector jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) have been GAINED from the time Obama took office until now, January 2013.  That's a net increase of 1.7%. *
• We have experienced 35 months of positive private-sector job GROWTH from February 2010 until January 2013.  We have added 6,111,000 private-sector jobs during those 35 months.    
• We now have 112,961,000  PRIVATE sector non-farm jobs.

*As of January 2013,  jobs are being added at a faster clip under Obama than under George Bush at the same time in his presidency.  At this point in Bush's presidency (January 2005), there were still 946,000 FEWER private sector jobs than when he was inaugurated in January 2001 (compared to 1,913,000 MORE for Obama).  The number of private-sector jobs didn't eclipse the number when Bush was first inaugurated until June 2005, in Bush's second term.  

How many GOVERNMENT jobs have been lost or gained since Obama was inaugurated?  (Government jobs include federal, state, and local government jobs.)

• 113,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until the "trough" of the recession in early 2010.  That's a decrease of  .5%  (about half of a percent). 
• Another 606,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the "trough" of the recession until now, January 2013.  That's a decrease of 2.7%.    
• In total, 719,000 GOVERNMENT jobs (in seasonally adjusted numbers) were LOST from the time Obama took office until now, January 2012.  That's a decrease of 3.2%.  A large portion of these jobs, at least 350,000, have been lost in the "Local Government - Education" sector. (Teachers.)
• We have experienced decreases in the number of government jobs in 25 out of the last 31 months, starting in June 2010, when the layoff of 2010 Census workers began.  However, we have experienced slight increases in the number of government jobs in the last 3 out of the last 7 months.     
• We now have 21,864,000 GOVERNMENT jobs, not including people in the military.  (Civilians employed by the U.S. and working for the military are counted.)

(Note:  Current numbers taken from the June Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Report.  Historical numbers taken from various archived Employment Situation reports as indexed HERE. Specifics will be provided upon request; please email me or leave a comment.)

An afterthought---

A reader asks:

How Many Private Sector Jobs Were Lost Because of Obama?

We haven't lost ANY private sector jobs (net) since February 2010, a year after Obama took office.  Between January 2009 and February 2010, we lost 4,198,000 private sector jobs as stated above.

Should we "blame" Obama for not being immediately able to stem the tide of private sector job loss in 2009?  If a house is burning out of control and the fire department comes to put out the fire, it continues to burn until it is brought under control and cooled down, right?  Now.. would you blame the fire department for the continued fire and the time to put it out after the firefighters arrive on the scene?

Well, you might, but I wouldn't:  Here's my reasoning:  Burning Down the House!

So my answer to this question would be a big, fat ZERO.  I do NOT feel that Obama is to blame for any loss of jobs between January 2009 and February 2010.  If you think he is, please leave a comment and explain!