Unemployment rate ticks down to 9% in November

[WI_DEM]

The nation's unemployment rate fell to 9 percent for October, from 9.1 percent last month, but hiring slowed as employers faced more uncertainty over future economic growth.


The Labor Department said the economy added 80,000 jobs last month, the fewest in four months and below September's revised total of 158,000.


Businesses added 104,000 jobs, below September's total. Government shed 24,000 jobs.

The report included some positive signs: The government revised August and September's figures upward by 102,000. Average hourly earnings rose. And the unemployment rate fell for the first time since July, because a separate survey of households showed more people found work.


Healthier consumer spending was the key reason the economy expanded at an annual pace of 2.5 percent in the July-September quarter, the best quarterly growth in a year. Growth in consumer spending tripled from the spring, despite renewed recession fears and wide fluctuations in the stock market.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57318401/u.s-unemployment-rate-falls-to-9/

[RockaFowler]

1. Count my husband in this

He just found a job!! For the first time in 18 months.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Congratulations!

[Number23]

3. That's gotta be a huge relief to the two of you

Congratulations!

[steve2470]

4. yay congrats to him !!! nt

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[great white snark]

5. Outstanding!

:bounce: :applause: :bounce:

[bhikkhu]

7. Excellent news!

Along with the upward revisions of the past two month's figures, and the good growth report on GDP, this should put to rest double-dip recession fears, at least through the holiday season.

[coalition_unwilling]

11. Don't mean to be Debbie Downer here, but the economy only

created 80,000 new jobs last month. That's not even enough new jobs to keep pace with the average monthly increase in the work force. So why did the UE rate drop .1%? Two reasons: people stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as 'unemmployed' by the BLS and the labor force did not grow at the average monthly rate.

IIRC, the economy must generate 150,000 new jobs per month merely to keep pace with the growth in the labor force.

As for a double-dip recession, once those government job cuts gather steam early next year, UE rate will start rising again. This past month, increases in private sector hiring were almost entirely set off by cuts in government jobs.

[NorthCarolina]

8. I know that's the "official" number, but does anyone happen to know the actual number?

I recall Bernie Sanders mentioning that it was actually something like 15 or 16%.

[boppers]

10. Which "actual number"?

There are near infinite ways of determining such things.... for example: what do you think the percentage of people is that a)are employed, b) happy with their jobs, c) are making a "living wage"?

This is why Bernie's numbers are just as trustworthy as the "official" numbers. They aren't useful numbers for determining anything as nebulously defined as an "actual" number, and they can only provide useful measurements when compared to themselves, or when understood in the full terms of their measurement systems.

[bhikkhu]

13. The number of jobs is about 140 million

you can divide that into population any number of ways, and imagine that it should be different in many ways.

I think the jobs number is pretty healthy, and the percentage of people working is quite healthy historically, but wages could certainly be better.

[brentspeak]

19. Nice that you think that 16.2% unemployment is a "healthy" number

What respective gated community do you live in, again?

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

[emilyg]

21. Comments like the one you're responding to

make me shake my head in disbelief.

[bhikkhu]

25. The labor participation rate is what I was talking about

That's the percentage of the total population which is working for wages, and it is at a very high level historically.

There are more roles in society than simply working for a wage, and many of those roles are very important. I think civil society suffers very much if too many people have to sacrifice education, child-raising, retirement, taking care of a household, participating in their community, etc, because every waking moment must be spent in the pursuit of money.

Low wages is more the problem than volume of jobs, though if industry can convince or coerce everyone into thinking they have to work for a living, then the sheer volume of job-seekers themselves will keep wages low.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. Bernie Is Referring ToU-6

Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian work force.

[MjolnirTime]

9. The Economy tries to grow in spite of every effort by the Repukes to snuff it

[emilyg]

12. Sad that this is considered

good news.

[ClarkUSA]

15. Sad that you don't consider a second consecutive month of 0.1% decline in unemployment to be

good news.

[emilyg]

16. Do you know how many people can't put

food on the table, how many people can't find even menial jobs?

[ClarkUSA]

18. Do you know how many people can now do so because of the continuing drop in unemployment?

[emilyg]

20. Real unemployment is around 16%.

[ClarkUSA]

22. "Gallup: Real (Unadjusted) Unemployment Best in Two Years"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x811749

[ClarkUSA]

23. According to whom? And if so, how does that change the fact the economy is improving?

[pinqy]

24. Please explain how

"Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons" is "real" unemployment when it includes people not trying to work and people who have jobs.

[frazzled]

17. A tenth of a percent each month adds up to 1.2% in a year

That would put the unemployment rate below 8%. And in another year below 7%. And that means real jobs for real people. If Congress would have passed the president's Jobs Act, you could have doubled that (especially for government jobs like teachers and firefighters, police).

I think you need to re-listen to the lyrics from that old song from the musical Pajama Game, about a union fight for a 7 1/2 cent raise. Get a pencil and a pad and figure it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w4mVycaC_o

[Major Hogwash]

26. What is this, the 18th month in a row of job growth while President Obama is in the White House?

I lost count of how many months in a row it is now.

[Major Hogwash]

27. Repub. Govs. have been laying off state workers each month this year to keep unemployment rate high.

Thom Hartmann said this last night on his program.

He said that EVERY Republican Governor -- All of them -- have been laying off state workers in their state EVERY month this year to artifically bolster the unemployment figures.