A question regarding job loss

[lazarus]

Just encountered the following post on Usenet, and I'm trying to counter it. Anyone care to help?

The relevant bit:

Well, I just did a little perusing of the Dept. of Labor's Bureau of
Labor Statistics site and came up with the following figures:

In January 2001 (the month Clinton left office) there were 135,999,000
people employed in the US.

As of October 2003, there were 138,014,000 people employed.

Now it's been a while since I've been in school but my rusty math skills
tell me that's a net GAIN of 2,015,000 jobs.

I did some checking, and we do have 150,000 new people entering the workforce every month, which accounts for the 3 million jobs. So basically, this person is playing semantics about the jobs lost, I think.

[Virgil]

1. 150,000 jobs are because of population increase

The figure I read said that 150.000 jobs need to be created every month just to accommodate the increase in population. It may be another number and I would think a Krugman fan might have a link, but one thing is for sure- the population is increasing.

It is at the national debt clock website- http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

[cliss]

2. Good point, Virgil.

How much has our population increased from Jan. 2001 to October 2003?

That might make the picture a little clearer.

[Gulf Coast J]

3. There are two employment surveys...

The household and the establishment surveys. The household survey is done by calling people up and asking if they work. This survey is used to determine the unemployment rate. It indeed shows more people working now than in Jan 2001, but it generally isn't considered to give the most accurate account of the number of jobs there are.

The establishment survey is done by asking businesses how many people they employ. This survey is used to determine how many jobs are created or lost by the economy. According to the establishment survey (seasonably adjusted):

Jan 2001: 132436
Nov 2003: 130174(p)


But of course, many here think that all statistics from the government are manipulated by the Bush administration.