With unemployment claims down and jobs being created.....

[A HERETIC I AM]

just exactly what kind of jobs are these? What is the rate of pay? I have a feeling that this good economic news we keep getting thrown at us is much like it was under Reagan: Booming Stock market but high wage, good benefit jobs going by the wayside. Major firms laying off thousands (Ford closing plants in VA and MN for instance) yet profits and CEO pay are not only up but some through the roof.

It's the 80s all over again and then what happened? The economic chickens came home to roost.

Am i wrong here? Thoughts?

[Warpy]

1. Keep watching sales figures and

"going out of business" signs in storefronts. Those are the real indicators of what's happening.

There's not much going on now, but one more rotten Xmas season will do a lot of marginal businesses in.

Don't expect anything but lies out of Washington. Use your own eyes and ears.

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. Of course i use my own eyes. I agree with you.....

but i am still wondering what the hell kind of jobs are supposedly being created. Wal-mart types? Is that it?

[Warpy]

4. Up until last year, something like 80% of new fulltime jobs were created

by the Federal government. Aint that a kick in the pants, some small government conservatism! The bulk of the rest were in the service industry. They weren't counting part time jobs. They haven't released job creation figures for about a year, the reason is obvious.

So if yhou live in Washington, you've got a shot in one of the new agencies like Homeland Security. If you live anywhere in the rest of the country, you're basically screwed unless Walmart is hiring.

[Breeze54]

2. I need help with this chart...

1 : The job openings rate is the number of openings divided by (employment plus job openings).
p : preliminary

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost

Series Id: JTS00000000JOR (1)
Seasonally adjusted
Industry: Total nonfarm
Region: Total US
Data Element: Job openings
Rate/Level: Rate

Am I reading this correctly?? :shrug:

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
2000 3.3
2001 3.4 3.2 3.0 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.3 2.3 2.3
2002 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.0
2003 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.2
2004 2.2 2.2 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.5
2005 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.8
2006 2.9 2.9(p)

That looks like LESS job openings?? - 2001 to 2006
What do you think??
:shrug:

[Imagevision]

5. I don't believe anything this administration claims is happening

they've lied about too damn much already -->"With unemployment claims down and jobs being created" and WMD'S in Iraq etc.-etc.-etc...!

[Ksec]

6. Junk jobs / Wal Mart and others that dont pay enough to eat

And claims going down means more people have given up signing up at their local unemployment office. Id bet that real unemployment figures would be in the 18 to 20% range