Just The Numbers, Mam
By: Les Dunaway

In Nov 2011 I wrote about the DOL jobs report and discussed how those numbers had been cooked to make the job situation look better. Well, as has been said “You ain’t seen nothin yet”. We can expect bogus numbers month by month leading up to November.

Last weeks report has an even more tenuous relation to reality. First, let’s talk about what the “unemployment number” is supposed to be – the percentage of people looking for work who can’t find work. So, it’s the difference between the labor force and the number of people working, expressed as a percentage. So, to make the numbers better, people are removed from the labor force. For instance, if someone has used up their weeks of unemployment payments, they are no longer counted – because if they aren’t applying for unemployment benefits, they can’t be unemployed. Right?

Because of the despair felt by millions of Americans, the participation in the labor force, which has averaged 65.8% since 1980,  has fallen since Oct ’09 and is now at 64%. [read] [read] The good news is that if we continue on this path, there will be no “official” unemployed by Nov 2012.

Further, the 200,000 jobs reported contains at least 42.000 seasonal jobs which will go away in January. [read]

Perhaps even worse for Americans is the average duration of unemployment which is highest ever recorded at just under 41 weeks. [read] How many families do you know personally who are coping by having 3 generations living in a small house? What is the effect on the children? Will they grow up thinking that being out of work is normal? Here’s what that led to in London. [read] [read]

We have a short time to restore the American dream. Think about your neighbors who have been out of work so long that they’ve given up; think about their children.

Can you fail to get involved in fixing this mess and working REALLY HARD to make sure it NEVER happens again?