Reply #26: Jobs Numbers Climb Ahead of Elections

[54anickel]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/MarketTalk/story?id=2626600&page=1

Nov. 3, 2006 — If the White House hasn't already hit your inbox — either work or personal — with an e-mail touting the lowest unemployment rate since the spring of 2001, you're probably too hard to reach.

Today's jobs report contained some surprises.

The headline number — 92,000 new jobs added — was a disappointment, but that was counteracted by massive upward revisions to previous monthly reports.

August's number saw an extra 42,000 jobs added (from 188,000 to 230,000), and September got a healthy 97,000 today (from 51,000 to 148,000).

The real surprise was the gift given to President Bush in the form of an unemployment number of 4.4 percent — down 0.2 percent from the previous month's number.

That's the lowest unemployment rate since April 2001. Expect the Republicans to loudly beat the drum with this statistic in the coming days — a sign that people are enjoying the benefits of a good economy under their stewardship.


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Losing jobs: residential construction (-30,700), motor vehicles and parts (-14,700), plastics and rubber products (-13,800).

Adding workers: temporary help (+15,000), health care (+22,500), restaurants and bars (+26,700) and local governments (+30,100).