This was actually the best August jobs report in six years...

[regnaD kciN]

I'm not saying the numbers weren't disappointing, but check the facts: the 96K jobs added were the highest for any August since 2006. In the last two years of the Bush administration, the economy lost jobs in August -- in 2008, it lost more than 100K jobs...and remember, that was before the Great Recession began.

For some reason, August just seems to be a bad month for hiring. Not that we shouldn't be disappointed with these numbers, but a little perspective is called for at times.

[WI_DEM]

1. That is how the administration should read it, too--"not good enough but best in six years"

[JoePhilly]

2. UE is down 2.1% from a high of 10.2%, to 8.1%, and its lower than in Obama's first full month.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Seasonal worker layoffs in travel and tourism, probably

you have a lot of seasonal workers in vacation destinations who get hired on in May or June and let go in August; that's probably responsible for a lot of the weakness of employment numbers in August (along with seasonal agricultural workers being paid off and so on).

[barbtries]

16. it's vacation month

even places that may need to hire will wait until they're back from vacation

[Sanity Claws]

21. Exactly

Decisions have to be made so the company has to wait until all involved in the decision are back to work. That means after Labor Day.
I personally interviewed for at least 2 positions in July and August and was told the decision would be made in September.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. The trends are clear:

[Blue Idaho]

11. This chart is missing something...

Another dotted line beginning at April 2011 and running forward labeled "republican congressional obstructionism."

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. Best August Job Numbers in Six Years

Most people will never get the chance to see this report that way because the media is too lazy to report news in context.

But usually they could be counted on to say: "Unemployment down two tenths of a points" since most economic reporting and media commentary has always focused on the unemployment rate, not the number of jobs created in any month.

[seabeyond]

6. thank you. things like these should be factored in. hubby business falls in dec. every dec.

my business i was in falls in june and is slow for next two months.

these things matter.

thanks for info.

it is a duh, but, i had not thought of the reasons why

[Sanity Claws]

7. Why are the media responding with so much gloom?

The job market is definitely picking up.

The unemployment rate decreased by .2%
My personal experience is that there are more jobs advertised in the last month than I've seen in the past year. I know because I've been scouring the job listings for years and I applied to more jobs in the past month than I have in a long, long time.
If the jobs are being advertised now, the hiring will be done shortly.

[glowing]

8. Kids go back to school... I know in the stand point on the "customer service" end of the

spectrum, parents are strapped buying back to school items: now including more than the back pack, clothes, pencils and book bag... now, we are providing hand sanitizer, toilet paper, glue, scissors, crayons, paper towels, photo copy paper... the list is almost endless. AND for those who can afford to help a little bit more, we buy extras for those children who's families cannot provide another dime out the door. Plus the college kids are going out too.

August and September are numbing. October thru the end of the year picks up when companies enter their 4th quarter and they have to get things done to end the business year... (I'm in FL).. so, we also start getting the snow birds back in. Honestly, for us, the RNC provided a cash infusion for housing security details. And they were on the job most of the time or sleeping, so they were easy going guests... Very easy money!!!

So, when you know that its spotty with money coming in, you basically hire only where you need it. A company will assign more OT, than have their balance sheets become skimpy.

ALSO, let's be real. The big businesses are sitting on huge surpluses, barely pay taxes, some get subsidies, and the top %r's are bank rolling the GOP and most of the Govt to buy their voice over the people's voice.. So, we aren't going to see lots of cooperation.

[kestrel91316]

9. I know that Aug/Sep is always the kiss of death for my business:

Labor Day weekend, back to school, and the Jewish high holidays. Plus this year it was ghastly hot for the end of July and the entire month of August - scary, unremitting heat, even at night, for 6 weeks. It killed business.

[Blue Idaho]

10. But you won't hear that from the M$M.

No way, the media is busily trying to paint any employment news as bad news. It's damn the facts and full speed ahead...

[eqfan592]

12. Thanks for the perspective.

Lets hope September shows at least a similar uptick in jobs and decrease in unemployment. Getting the unemployment rate back under 8% would be awesome.

[WilliamPitt]

13. Not for some reason.

All the hiring people are on vacation.

[mac56]

17. This.

[RedSpartan]

14. So what do we think September will look like?

From this, we lost 29,000 jobs in Sept 2010 and gained 103,000 in Sept 2011:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/07/news/economy/jobs_report_unemployment/index.htm

[BumRushDaShow]

15. One of the analysts from CNBC was on MSNBC and said the same

and they showed a chart of previous Augusts. He also mentioned some other positive indicators that the M$M is missing....

[landolfi]

18. Another Ryan hypocrisy...

From Gawker:

http://gawker.com/5936058/paul-ryan-supported-the-stimulus-when-george-w-bush-proposed-it

Ryan also noted, "In recessions unemployment lags on well after a recovery has taken place," which slightly undercuts his accusation that current unemployment numbers show Obama's inability to deal with the recession.

[IrishEyes]

19. I've been temping for awhile since I got laid off.

It is always slower in the summer for work. It usually picks up in September. I'm looking forward to finding a full-time job.

[Barry2012]

20. it should be better

If it wasn't for the DO NOTHING CONGRESS that president Obama is had to deal with for the last 2 years we would be in much better shape.I think he's done a pretty good job actually,when you think of all the opposition he's had to all of his job proposals.