Oh wow! Saints be praised! 2.2 million jobs added in 2004!

[Deja Q]

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/10594189.htm?1c

WASHINGTON — Employers hired workers in 2004 at the fastest pace in five years, with overall payrolls rising by 2.2 million. December's job growth was a bit lower than expected, with the unemployment rate holding at 5.4 percent.

President Bush called the numbers "very positive," but economists weren't so enthusiastic.

The Labor Department reported Friday that employers expanded their payrolls by a net 157,000 in December, bringing the year's increase to the highest level since 1999. That year, 3.2 million jobs were created, based on a government survey of businesses. In 2003, there was a net reduction of 61,000 payroll jobs, the department said.

For the year, the average unemployment rate was 5.5 percent. That was the lowest since 2001, when the average annual rate was 4.7 percent.

Bush called the jobs report "a very positive set of numbers" that are proof the economy is growing.


Where did this 2.2 mil come from? And you can bet this'll prod * to make even more tax cuts.

I saw the actual newspaper. It had a highlighted blurb about how many jobs went in which areas (manufacturing, retail, et al). They didn't add up either. The #s were too small to be national, but too large to be state-centric (Minnesota).

Additional: "With the new year upon us, it's a good time to reflect on whether the economic news Wall Street salutes is equally good news for working families," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. Organized labor mobilized to defeat Bush in last year's election.

I'd heard from a confidant how much Johnnie there makes. They're semi-shills too. It'$ all about money, of course.

[purduejake]

1. First, I don't believe the numbers...

and most of the new jobs created pay less, anyway. Most college grads I know from Purdue University can't even find a job. People with masters degrees seem to be having trouble, too.

[TheEconomist]

5. No problems for everyone I know...

... all of the MBAs that I know all have jobs.... and with big companies too! Big companies like Wal Mart, Circuit City, McDonalds, Taco Bell.....

[classof56]

10. Welcome to DU.

And thanks for sharing the good news about our economy...

Oh, wait! It's not that good, after all, is it? <sarcasm off now> It's what I like about DU--Truth if Spoken Here.

Class of 56

Whoops--meant to say, Truth IS spoken here!

[TheEconomist]

11. Thanks!

Yea, I figured out what you meant to say :-)

[aceat64]

16. No problems for me...

I haven't had trouble at all finding a job, I currently make $25/hour fixing computers. I've also been offered a job to maintain the computers and network for a medium sized car/van rental company.

[newyawker99]

22. Hi aceat64!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[purduejake]

19. I am glad to hear that...

Except the fact they are working for Walmart, etc, but who am I to criticise somebody for making a living in any way they can?

[Rican1]

2. How many of these jobs paid a living wage!

[Deja Q]

6. Precisely. The M$M NEVER talks of specifics, only generalizations...

That's not media. It's goddamn propaganda.

And the people, forgive me, are so damn STUPID that they'll blindly drool along with the best of them and never ask the questions.

They remind me of the psychologist profession: Never ask questions, and make cheap and quick generalizations and then turn on you when you do start asking questions.

[TheEconomist]

12. They ALL pay a living wage...

... a living in your parents basement and eating Ramen noodles wage.

[Rowdyboy]

3. So how many jobs total were lost during the first Bush administration?

I know he didn't break even, but I'd love to know exactly how many jobs were lost from 2000-2004.

[papau]

9. 208000 jobs lost Dec 00 to Dec 04 n/t

:-(

[Rowdyboy]

13. Thanks!

That was damn fast!

[Rowdyboy]

4. dupe

[Deja Q]

7. Dupe to what? A link would be nice.

O8)

[Rowdyboy]

14. Sorry, I mean that I double-posted, so I erased the second one and

wrote "dupe" Thats all. I didn't mean that your thread was a dupe, just my second post.

[Deja Q]

17. Oops! I didn't notice. (I wonder what my counselor would peg me with...)

:7

And now it's time for me to drink some caffeine-fortified drink.

[papau]

8. Stuck in the 2 yrs job growth increase is 1.5 million pretend jobs that

are added to represent new work at home folks that just have not reported in to the payroll tax folks.

I suggest that in the last 24 months few would break the law like that.

In addition over the past 4 yrs 1.2 million private sector jobs were lost - even after the fake 1.5 million is added in.

Only the public sector has really grown under Bush.

[Deja Q]

18. Working for the government is cool.

Generally stable, good people... what's the problem with working for the government? (unless it's all military, in which case I'd rather do something else. I'm not good at killing. Maybe logistical support, or at least watching the episode of Futurama entitled "War is the H-Word". Hilarious ep...)

[EVDebs]

15. Yeah, and half of those went to immigrants on visas (and some without)

"Nation's immigrants account for bulk of labor force growth since 2000
Native-born workers eclipsed by great wave of immigration"

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-01/nu-nia010804.php

[Massacure]

20. Textiles isn't going to fair well this year.

I wouldn't be suprised if that hinders the economy.

[snippy]

21. This actually is a large number for a republican president.

You can not have cheap labor in a strong job market. Nothing is more republican than that.

Republican presidents are always, always, always bad for job creation. Since the 1920's, the annual rate of job creation under republican presidents has always been lower than under democratic presidents.

You can not have cheap labor in a strong job market. Nothing is more republican than that.

Since the depression, not a single republican president has had a better rate of job creation than any democratic president. The highest rate of job growth under a republican was 2.2% per year during Nixon's time in office. The lowest rate of job growth under a democrat was 2.3% per year during Kennedy's time in office.
You can not have cheap labor in a strong job market. Nothing is more republican than that.

Since WWII ended, a total of 57.51 million jobs were created during the terms of democratic presidents which is an average of 2.054 million jobs per year. During the terms of republican presidents a total of 31.11 million jobs were created which is an average of 1.003 million jobs per year.

You can not have cheap labor in a strong job market. Nothing is more republican than that.

The numbers in this chart are from July, 2003 so they do not reflect the job gains in the last 18 months. And of course under Bush the increase in hourly earnings and the average work week have been terrible. But as I said above, you can not have cheap labor in a strong job market. Nothing is more republican than that.