Unemployment Holds at 8.3% – Jobs Recession Longest Since World War II …Update: Economy Still Down 6 million jobs
Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, March 9, 2012, 5:33 AM
The unemployment rate held at 8.3% in February making Obama the Worst Jobs President since the Great Depression.
Misery Index
The current jobs recession is now the longest since World War II.
Reuters reported on today’s news.
Employers added 227,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, while the unemployment rate held at a three-year low of 8.3 percent.
It marked the first time since early 2011 that payrolls have grown by more than 200,000 for three months in a row – bolstering President Barack Obama’s chances for re-election.
The economy created 61,000 more jobs in December and January than previously thought, and the jobless rate held steady even as more people returned to the labor force.
Although the job market is gaining some muscle, the pace of improvement remains too slow to do much to absorb the 23.5 million Americans who are either out of work or underemployed.
Fed Chairman Bernanke last week described the labor market as “far from normal” and said continued improvement would require stronger demand for U.S. goods and services.
Zero Hedge had more on today’s numbers.
NFP 227,000 on expectations of 210,000; Previous revised from 243K to 284K; Unemployment Rate (U-3%) at 8.3%, U-6 at 14.9%. While for the first time in a long time those not in the labor force declined (from 87,874 to 87,564) and the participation rate rose as a result from 63.7% to 63.9%, here is what the market is focusing on currently: “Professional and business services added 82,000 jobs in February. Just over half of the increase occurred in temporary help services (+45,000).”
Average duration of unemployment steady at 40.0 weeks, via John Lohman and Zero Hedge.
UPDATE: The economy is still down 6 million jobs since the start of the Great Recession.
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regularguy commented:
Under “normal” recession circumstances, I wouldn’t look for unemployment numbers to come down but slowly, as the economy recovers. Worse, however, I wouldn’t unemployment numbers to EVER come down, given the idiotic Keynesian spending of Obama’s and Congress’ plan to recover the economy. Given they keep wanting to spend more against all evidence it’s not working, we should only believe they want to destroy the economy, instead.
Paul in N. AL commented:
Like I’m supposed to buy those numbers. Unemployment is above 9% nationwide and underemployment is at or above 20%. Labor department has been massaging those numbers so much they’re ridiculous.
Apb commented:
Fox Business must have become true believers in the jobs increase of 227K – no one said ‘boo’ about last week’s first time unemployment number of 362K…
jorgen commented:
I agree with #2 Paul: 8.3% has nothing to do with reality. WND makes the real percentage 22.5%!
bronxdude commented:
“…It marked the first time since early 2011 that payrolls have grown by more than 200,000 for three months in a row – bolstering President Barack Obama’s chances for re-election…”
The Art of Spin.
Chef Boyardee commented:
The government books are so overcooked they’ve turned into PINK SLIME. Does any rational person believe obama’s unicorn numbers? Who are these people enabling him?
Comanche Joe commented:
Dig deeper and you see that 18% of these jobs were temporary jobs in the business sector. This translate to temp workers for companies working on closing the 2011 books or tax prep services.
Another example of spin. These shouldn’t be counted and the temp unemployed (think Volt workers) should not be counted as unemployed. Guarantee you take these workers out on both side and the unemployment rate will increase.
coolidgerules commented:
Everyone here is correct- it’s all spin.
I’m watching the MSM go downhill fast this week. More people are NOT trusting what the Mr Rodgers Media is putting out there-with good reason. This whole administration has been nothing but a well-orchestrated lie from the beginning. King Putt could have never pulled off this fraud without the help of syccophants in the media. The drive-bys have to know that this isn’t going well for them- but they trudge forward anyway. This is what worries me
Bill Mitchell commented:
Meanwhile Gallup tells us the real number is 9.1%.
The problem you have here is that the very people who have the most to gain by manipulating this number lower are the very ones who have the power to do so.
Riddle me this. How can you add fewer jobs than it takes to just keep up with population growth, have an increase in the workforce, yet the unemployment number remains constant? Mathematically impossible, right? And yet there it is.
Plan on more statistical manipulations and election day draw near. Most people have no idea how EASY it is to make this number say anything they want by simply adjusting some underlying assumptions.
Mitch Rapp commented:
Using government numbers provided by Chicago manipulators – I am surprised the rate is not 4%. Accoring to GALLUP
The Atlantic Wire
Gallup: Unemployment at 9.1%, But 19% Need Jobs
SO, just how well are are being lied to?
James commented:
Any jobs growth was probably in states with republican governors and red states. Any job growth is in spite of obama, not because of him.
Tom in CA commented:
I hope and believe that those out of work absolutely know what job conditions are and will vote accordingly. That number is around 5% higher than when President Bush was in office. That’s a lot of folks.
They can lie, but if you are sitting home with no prospects for a job, you ain’t voting for Obama.
Chippy commented:
351,000 new jobless claims each weekfor 4 weeks in Fevruary = 1,400,000 jobless claims for the entire month.
Then, we add 227,000 new jobs in February and the unemployment rate stays the same?
This is total BS!
Liz commented:
Hypothesis: Elect an incompetent president with no experience nor American values, and the economy and general culture in America will decline.
Result: Moreso than we even imagined.
Can we get some competence in the White House now?
Govt Lies commented:
NFP 227,000
Birth Death Model adds 91k fake Jobs. LOL
juandos commented:
Ahhh, one has to wonder just how ‘manipulated‘ the BLS numbers are…
Note the following from Gallup dated March 8: U.S. unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, increased to 9.1% in February from 8.6% in January and 8.5% in December…
Apparently it seems that most of the job gains have been for low-paying work…
GP Fan commented:
“…three-year low of 8.3 percent.” Low? LOW??? WTH??? I’d hate to see their three year high! It’s painfully obvious they are in the tank when they put such a fairy dust adjective right there in the very first sentence. You’d think they’d be ashamed of such a display.
Second sentence, “grown”. Woo hoo, we twisted the numbers and made it look good for three whole years! More fairy dust please numbers people, and hurry!!! Oh yes, the job market “gains”, has “muscle” and I’ve even managed to get the word “improvement” in there… YES, we’ll get him re-elected yet!!!
Of course it’s all spin, even his so called foreign policy is all just spin. Pundits keep saying he leads from behind, but the propaganda president has no real policy for a reason. If he told people what he wanted/thought, he’d be charged with treason, so when they forget his teleprompter and he isn’t spoon fed every word and accidentally lets slip what he REALLY wants/thinks, he then hurries and changes his stances according to the latest poll numbers and headlines. That’s our foreign policy. Whatever he can get away with without the people knowing what he’s really trying to accomplish. Actually, that’s his presidency in a nutshell.
He truly is the propaganda president. He makes Nixon look like a saint! Two others that are also dead on are narcissist in chief and campaigner in chief.
burt commented:
Ah! seasonally adjusted.
MN Jim commented:
These numbers are all fudged. Other sources list the REAL unemployment anywhere up to 19%.
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