Unemployment drops to 7.8%, labor force up.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Um no.  These numbers were clearly jimmied.  The unemployment rate does NOT fall by .3% when the economy adds only 114,000 jobs.  It rarely even happens when it adds 300,000+ jobs.  Something smells here.

There were revisions to the past 2 months....hence the drop.

If you want to argue with these people you are going to have to stop bringing up numbers and math and exit reality to boot. 

Jobs were a plus
Unemployment went down
Labor force participation went up
Revisions brought numbers up from the last few months

...their talking point is the recovery isn't good enough and guess what, it's not going to change.  Mark Twain once said "Never argue with stupid people, they will bring you down to their level and win with experience"

I would suggest you discuss this with people who have a clue.

[Eraserhead]

As I've said before, I really don't think many people vote based on jobs reports. Pretty decent news
anyway though.

If anything does stick with people, it'll probably be the unemployment rate finally dropping below 8%. Now get some caffeine into Obama before the next debate.

[Oakvale]

Um no.  These numbers were clearly jimmied.  The unemployment rate does NOT fall by .3% when the economy adds only 114,000 jobs.  It rarely even happens when it adds 300,000+ jobs.  Something smells here.

Ignore list time, at long last.

[Badger]

I think we can safely call this good news for Obama.

Key point -

You must be logged in to read this quote.

What debate?

Maybe mediocre jobs reports are good news in Europe, but America expects better.

So employment keeping up with population growth, your mantra for the past few months doesn't matter anymore?

I'm sorry, but cheering over 114,000 jobs being created almost half a decade after the start of the recession is downright pathetic.

This is clearly not good enough. We've had this malaise, it's not an outright recession but it's not a recovery either, for almost half a decade. It needs to change and soon before it's too late.

We have 23 million people out of work.

Politico, I realize Obama's staunchest partisans argue unemployment remains to this day 100% George Bush's problem, but at the same time do you seriously attibute every job lost after the minute he was inaugurated to be Obama's fault?

[Simfan34]

This is bad news.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

It's good news for the workforce, but I think it'll have a minimal effect in the long run.

People don't vote on job numbers, they vote on their "personal economy".

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

This is bad news.

How...?

[Skill and Chance]

I wonder if this means we will see the Obama campaign cut some positive economic ads for next week?  Maybe "Yes, We Did" would be a good theme?

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

This is bad news.

How...?

For Romney, maybe.

[Beet]

Um no.  These numbers were clearly jimmied.  The unemployment rate does NOT fall by .3% when the economy adds only 114,000 jobs.  It rarely even happens when it adds 300,000+ jobs.  Something smells here.

The unemployment rate and jobs numbers are based on two separate surveys. The household survey, which is used to determine the unemployment rate, is a survey of individuals and tends to be more volatile. It showed an increase of 873,000 jobs. The establishment survey is a survey of big businesses and is where the 114,000 and the 86,000 in revisions comes from. Usually this survey underestimates firing during recessions and underestimates hiring during recoveries like we have now, because it doesn't pick up on new business formation or hiring by smaller companies, although it tries to estimate this. My company, for example, I was the 49th employee when I was hired in mid August and now there are 60 employees. But of course it wasn't surveyed by the BLS.

[nhmagic]

One thing I do know is that the BLS has been cherry-picking the best cities and towns in the country to survey.  For example, the HR director for my organization was contacted during the primary election to report hiring numbers from the city, including 1 day poll workers.  This city had the best unemployment rate in the state (4.3% at the time).  It is my guess that the BLS looked at the ELMI state stats at the time and picked from there to do the survey. 

Secondly, I'd like someone to explain how we saw a decrease in the rate to 7.8, but didn't see corresponding decreases in the other measures of unemployment (like the U6) when labor force participation is up.  They are tied to one another.

Also, how is it that we keep getting revisions for months that pass.  It seems like every report holds new revisions for months that were already revised.  Something is fishy here and seeing as the administration just lied about the Libya attack originating from a YouTube video, I wouldn't be surprised if they're lying about this too.  Man, I really hope that people can see through this for what it is.  I have also never seen democrats so oblivious and uneffected by this admin's blatant lies.  I really think that the reason is that if he wins they have a once in a generation opportunity to instill socialism in the country and that enthuses them meanwhile ...ing the rest of us who don't want it and have no choice, but to live through it once implemented.

[Hoverbored123]

One thing I do know is that the BLS has been cherry-picking the best cities and towns in the country to survey.  For example, the HR director for my organization was contacted during the primary election to report hiring numbers from the city, including 1 day poll workers.  This city had the best unemployment rate in the state (4.3% at the time).  It is my guess that the BLS looked at the ELMI state stats at the time and picked from there to do the survey. 

Secondly, I'd like someone to explain how we saw a decrease in the rate to 7.8, but didn't see corresponding decreases in the other measures of unemployment (like the U6) when labor force participation is up.  They are tied to one another.

Also, how is it that we keep getting revisions for months that pass.  It seems like every report holds new revisions for months that were already revised.  Something is fishy here and seeing as the administration just lied about the Libya attack originating from a YouTube video, I wouldn't be surprised if they're lying about this too.  Man, I really hope that people can see through this for what it is.  I have also never seen democrats so oblivious and uneffected by this admin's blatant lies.  I really think that the reason is that if he wins they have a once in a generation opportunity to instill socialism in the country and that enthuses them meanwhile ...ing the rest of us who don't want it and have no choice, but to live through it once implemented.

I agree that there's legitimate reason to question the accuracy of those numbers.  It's understandable that previous months were revised upward.  But none other than Chris Cuomo said not to take the numbers at face value.  The "U6," which is said to be correlated to the other unemployment measures, hasn't moved much.  The number of jobs added isn't much different from the average this year.  Labor force participation is up.  The most obvious explanation is that we added more jobs than we thought in previous months, but we'll have to wait for further analysis. 

[memphis]

The GOP has such an absurd reality problem. They feel entitled not just to their own opinions, but to their own facts as well. The Greatest Hits: Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. There were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Climate change is not real. Barack Obama is a Muslim. Barack Obama was born in Kenya. Barack Obama is a socialist. Half of Americans don't pay any taxes. Christians are regularly and consistently persecuted in the United States. The polls are biased against Republicans. And now, the unemployment numbers are fabricated as well. Is there a psychiatrist in the house?

[Politico]

One thing I do know is that the BLS has been cherry-picking the best cities and towns in the country to survey.  For example, the HR director for my organization was contacted during the primary election to report hiring numbers from the city, including 1 day poll workers.  This city had the best unemployment rate in the state (4.3% at the time).  It is my guess that the BLS looked at the ELMI state stats at the time and picked from there to do the survey.  

Secondly, I'd like someone to explain how we saw a decrease in the rate to 7.8, but didn't see corresponding decreases in the other measures of unemployment (like the U6) when labor force participation is up.  They are tied to one another.

Also, how is it that we keep getting revisions for months that pass.  It seems like every report holds new revisions for months that were already revised.  Something is fishy here and seeing as the administration just lied about the Libya attack originating from a YouTube video, I wouldn't be surprised if they're lying about this too.  Man, I really hope that people can see through this for what it is.  I have also never seen democrats so oblivious and uneffected by this admin's blatant lies.  I really think that the reason is that if he wins they have a once in a generation opportunity to instill socialism in the country and that enthuses them meanwhile ...ing the rest of us who don't want it and have no choice, but to live through it once implemented.

One word: Chicago.

"Vote early and vote often" has changed into "fudge early and fudge often."

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Right... this is just pathetic...

So, when there were the bad jobs numbers, the right latched onto them as if they're a perfect representation of the horrible Obama economy... when they're good? they're fake...

Just like when there are bad polls for Obama it shows how weak he is etc etc... but when they're good... they MUST BE FAKE!

[Politico]

Right... this is just pathetic...

So, when there were the bad jobs numbers, the right latched onto them as if they're a perfect representation of the horrible Obama economy... when they're good? they're fake...

Just like when there are bad polls for Obama it shows how weak he is etc etc... but when they're good... they MUST BE FAKE!

They're not good, but they're fudged to make them better than otherwise.

For example, over 200,000 jobs were created in September 2011. Only about half of that last month. How is this NOT defined as moving backward, not forward?

Everybody except out-of-touch liberals realize that this country is suffering. All of the spinning and fudging in the world is not going to "change" it, or make people look "forward" to four more years of the last four years.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Right... this is just pathetic...

So, when there were the bad jobs numbers, the right latched onto them as if they're a perfect representation of the horrible Obama economy... when they're good? they're fake...

Just like when there are bad polls for Obama it shows how weak he is etc etc... but when they're good... they MUST BE FAKE!

They're not good, but they're fudged to make them better than otherwise.

For example, over 200,000 jobs were created in September 2011. Only about half of that last month. How is this NOT defined as moving backward, not forward?

Everybody except out-of-touch liberals realize that this country is suffering. All of the spinning and fudging in the world is not going to "change" it, or make people look "forward" to four more years of the last four years.

You'll believe anything, as long as it allows you to blame Obama for anything bad, but no credit for anything good... you do realise you're as guilty of the sins you're accusing pretty much EVERY person who disagrees with you.

[Politico]

Right... this is just pathetic...

So, when there were the bad jobs numbers, the right latched onto them as if they're a perfect representation of the horrible Obama economy... when they're good? they're fake...

Just like when there are bad polls for Obama it shows how weak he is etc etc... but when they're good... they MUST BE FAKE!

They're not good, but they're fudged to make them better than otherwise.

For example, over 200,000 jobs were created in September 2011. Only about half of that last month. How is this NOT defined as moving backward, not forward?

Everybody except out-of-touch liberals realize that this country is suffering. All of the spinning and fudging in the world is not going to "change" it, or make people look "forward" to four more years of the last four years.

You'll believe anything, as long as it allows you to blame Obama for anything bad, but no credit for anything good... you do realise you're as guilty of the sins you're accusing pretty much EVERY person who disagrees with you.

I have repeatedly credited Obama for properly delegating foreign policy to Gates, Petreaus and Clinton (Name a single damn thing any staunch Obama supporter on here has given Romney credit for). Unfortunately, with Gates out of the picture the past year and Clinton on her way out (Maybe Petreaus too), we are starting to see the seams come undone, so to speak. Caving into the demands of the Russians is a tough pill to swallow. Borrowing hundreds of billions from China in perpetuity is a HUGE strategic mistake that must end ASAP, too. Furthermore, we need to stand more firm with Israel.

In contrast, Romney will never cave into Russian demands, get us off our dependency upon loanable funds from China, and always stand strong with Israel.

[old timey villain]

So what happens when Obama wins the election? Will Republicans claim the election was fake too?

One more question- Were Democrats this bad when Bush was president? Were we equally petty and delusional? My memory fails me on this one.

[Orion0]

One more question- Were Democrats this bad when Bush was president? Were we equally petty and delusional? My memory fails me on this one.

As one that views from afar excepting the winter months when I visit and mingle with all y'all Americans, yes. Yes you were. Maybe even worse.

And in response to the topic it's just another bump on a long ride. Romney will continue the not enough attack while O will say forward. Most people won't give a darn about a percentage, but about their community. So whether the numbers are based in truth or fantasyland i believe people vote situationally.

[後援会]

Seems like this month's job data was more of the same. Signalling a short-term recovery (job growth that points us in the right direction, although not a lot of it), but a long-term deterioration in American economic capacity (the constantly shrinking workforce, which is responsible for a larger proportion of this years unemployment drop than actual job creation).

[Niemeyerite]

Repbulican truthers, even Politico, here. I hope Romney becomes a truther, too. It'd be fun.

[Brittain33]

So what happens when Obama wins the election? Will Republicans claim the election was fake too?

One more question- Were Democrats this bad when Bush was president? Were we equally petty and delusional? My memory fails me on this one.

Of course they'll claim it was a fix. Look how many Republicans believe ACORN is why Obama won in 2008. To accept that Dems win legitimacy would mean accepting they have a right to govern, and that is unacceptable. We will have congressional investigations for months of Obama wins.

[Franzl]

So what happens when Obama wins the election? Will Republicans claim the election was fake too?

One more question- Were Democrats this bad when Bush was president? Were we equally petty and delusional? My memory fails me on this one.

Of course they'll claim it was a fix. Look how many Republicans believe ACORN is why Obama won in 2008. To accept that Dems win legitimacy would mean accepting they have a right to govern, and that is unacceptable. We will have congressional investigations for months of Obama wins.

Not exactly what should be happening in a stable democracy...

[Politico]

I think we can safely call this good news for Obama.

Key point -

You must be logged in to read this quote.

What debate?

Maybe mediocre jobs reports are good news in Europe, but America expects better.

So employment keeping up with population growth, your mantra for the past few months doesn't matter anymore?

I'm sorry, but cheering over 114,000 jobs being created almost half a decade after the start of the recession is downright pathetic.

This is clearly not good enough. We've had this malaise, it's not an outright recession but it's not a recovery either, for almost half a decade. It needs to change and soon before it's too late.

We have 23 million people out of work.

Politico, I realize Obama's staunchest partisans argue unemployment remains to this day 100% George Bush's problem, but at the same time do you seriously attibute every job lost after the minute he was inaugurated to be Obama's fault?

I have admitted on repeated occasions that Obama inherited a bad situation. However, he has been president and got everything he wanted his first two years. He needs to man up and take responsibility for at least the last year or two.