employment increased by 211,000 in March

[papau]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
Friday, April 7, 2006.


THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: MARCH 2006


Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 211,000 in March, and the unemploy-
ment rate was little changed at 4.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of
the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the month, job growth was
widespread in the service-providing sector.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of unemployed persons, 7.0 million, and the unemployment
rate, 4.7 percent, were little changed in March. The jobless rates for the
major worker groups--adult men (4.1 percent), adult women (4.1 percent),
teenagers (15.7 percent), whites (4.0 percent), blacks (9.3 percent), and
Hispanics (5.4 percent)--showed little or no change over the month. The
unemployment rate for Asians was 3.4 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See
tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed--those unemployed 27 weeks and over--
also was little changed over the month. This group accounted for 18.4 percent
of the unemployed, down from 21.5 percent a year earlier. (See table A-9.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment was up in March to 143.6 million; the employment-popula-
tion ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and over with jobs--was
little changed at 63.0 percent. The labor force participation rate remained
at 66.1 percent and has been at or near that level for a year. (See table
A-1.)

The number of persons working part time for economic reasons edged down to
4.0 million in March. This category includes persons who indicated that they
would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours
had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See
table A-5.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Nearly 1.5 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally at-
tached to the labor force in March, slightly less than a year earlier. These
individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job some-
time in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they
had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the mar-
ginally attached, there were 451,000 discouraged workers in March, about the
same as a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not currently looking for
work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The
other 1.0 million marginally attached had not searched for work for reasons
such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

[HughBeaumont]

1. How's come all I see in the paper are layoff notices?

Oh that's right, because these Chimpconomy "jobs" that are replacing the good paying, good benefit ones couldn't pay for the Parent's Basement Hilton.

[WhiteTara]

30. took the words right off my keyboard!

every week, thousand laid off, the papers never advertise for lots of jobs, show openings of new companines or factories. I keep wondering how they add the numbers. It sounds like Enron accounting to me.

[flashdebadge]

34. see Thread #32

[darkmaestro019]

2. Nobody's asked me how long I've been self/unemployed.

Self employed to me means a structured business of some kind, but I'm not quite unemployed either....still, I make a fraction of what counts as federal poverty level and I get no paycheck and punch no clock, and it wasn't for lack of trying. Temp agencies were my only shot at more than minimum slavewage or maybe $6 an hour, but they just stopped calling. And I got LETTERS from the companies I was sent to sent back to my agency telling them how much ass I kick. There just isn't work, and I was well qualified for office clerk type work and quite experienced in manufacturing.

And it'd cost me more in gas and loss of ability to work in, uh, other, fields, to get a part-time gig in retail, which seems to be about it lately, unless you're an RN or a truck driver.

We got lucky--VERY lucky, recently, and we have a temporary gig for both me and my beloved working for a band I won't name. And they are based out of the UK. We get to see America and all the niftiest nightclubs, but together we still won't make what one of us would make at an entry-level manufacturing or office job, full time.

Unfortunately, that doesn't start till mid-May. Till then, we do single-shot adult work and webcam and that's about it. Not what I would call reliable or repeatable income, though I don't mean to knock it. When one or both worked at a Citizen job we did this on the SIDE just to make rent and gas and food, and not paying to drive daily sure is helping a lot with scraping by on less money and less "fixed" money.

Fortunately we won't have an electric or food bill while on tour, and our rent is low enough to keep paying and maybe even have a TINY bit socked away (as in, the savings acct we use instead of the checking we can't get due to destroyed credit will be in three figures and not two) so we can figure out what to do when we come back before we get evicted. We have no kids and no cable, car payment, etc. One disaster--the car breaks, one of us gets the kind of sick that the fantastic Total Living Center clinic can't treat for us for free, and we are fucked, my friends. And I have no earthly idea what we'll do when we're too old to be cute enough for porn anymore. We're approaching thirty and look young, though it sure isn't due to clean living. : ) I figure we have another ten years, tops, at the VERY maximum.

I'm sure I'm the only one in America they aren't counting, though, in this unemployment figure. (wipes the :sarcasm: off his chin)

And I'm SURE all the added jobs are just as good as the ones that have dried up, and perfectly accessible to people that no longer have the slightest chance of getting into college, or surviving a few years of it and eating at the same time, or getting any sort of job once they get out...

The jobs just ain't here. This is so 1984. We've produced this many more boots than last year, etc--remember that bit? Kind of pales in comparison to the other horrors in that book--until now.

We can write any damn thing on paper we want and it doesn't make it so. How I wish I could get THAT skywritten.

[Felix Mala]

4. The good times are killing us...

[darkmaestro019]

7. Yeah. You'd think all those rich perverts would keep us rolling in bank.

What better to spend the tax cut on! Porn!

Apparently we're not their style : )

[AnneD]

11. They pull these numbers

out of their asses. They routinely add numbers to the figures in the Spring because more companies start up.

So if you have been unemployed and start mowing lawns to keep body and soul together, to them you are a self employed entrepreneur.

What a pile of crap.

[area51]

14. "They pull these numbers out of their asses."

Agreed. If the unemployment rate was really this low, people wouldn't have such a hard time getting a job, there wouldn't be so many homeless, and all the employed people would be getting raises b/c bosses are afraid of losing their employees due to a "booming economy". But since homeless #s keep growing, and wages keep spiraling downwards, it proves the republinazi #s of low unemployment as lies.

[Le Taz Hot]

26. You're not alone

I was forced to take clerical work as it was the only thing I could find, and I have two college degrees. Unfortunately, the middle management jobs have dried up PLUS I'm a 50-year-old female so I've been facing age discrimination as well. But I must say I'm better off than many. I make a fraction of what I'm used to making but I was finally able to get some kick-ass insurance (thank the goddess!). My husband, however, also with two college degrees and highly personable and intelligent, has now been out of work for a year and not even a hint of a prospect even though he's now sending resumes as far as 100 miles away. So where exactly ARE all these jobs. I really would like to know.

[AnneD]

28. They are in...

India, China, Cambodia, etc....But on the bright side, your dollars will go further there....

[Mikimouse]

3. Must be all of those McManufacturing jobs...n/t

[Karmakaze]

15. Nope...

Remember that the official unemployment tally does NOT include those who are classified as "discouraged". They are removed from the list of unemployed because they have given up looking for work. So this could simply mean that more people have become "discouraged" than in previous reporting periods.

I read a report that was posted on DU recently that if you take away all these "tricks", you find that the true unemployment rate in the US is 12%. 200,000 jobs would not make a dent in that number. Neither would a million.

[Vinnie From Indy]

5. LOL! BushCo has lied about everything!

Why would this be any different? Indiana is being hammered with job losses. Many small towns have lost almost all their small and medium manufacturing jobs.

[bluestateguy]

6. employment increased by 211,000 in March (because the govt says so)

Government simply can't be trusted to be on the level with these statistics. These are the same people who told us that there were weapons of masss destruction in Iraq.

[JNelson6563]

8. Yeah, sure it did.

This misAdministration wouldn't know an honest number if it bit 'em in the ass. Filthy liars.

[converted_democrat]

9. I don't buy it.. There are jobs to be had in the area, but they all pay

minimum wage, and none of them are full time.. I have family is various parts of the country, and they claim the situation is the same in their areas.. I own my own business, so I'm lucky in many respects.. As a business owner, here's the thing I don't understand... There are so many companies out there that only want to pay minimum wage.. They constantly have ads in the paper for workers, and they have a high turnover rate because they pay so little and expect so much.. Why not just pay an extra dollar or two an hour, and retain good workers, instead of constantly having to pay to advertise for new help, and the cost that goes with constantly retraining a new workforce? They would end up saving money if they just paid their workers a little more... I just don't understand the logic behind the way they are going about it..

The big reason I don't believe these numbers is because of the number of homeless that now reside in our area.. Up until about a year ago there was no homeless here, now there are whole families sleeping in their cars in the park at night.. The churches in this area are serving more than ever through their pantries, and one church has gone to giving a free meal everyday, including Sunday.. I don't believe numbers that our government spews anymore..

Edited for my many grammar issues..

[JuniperLea]

10. Number of unemployed people

I never trust this number. What about the people who have exhausted their unemployment benefits, are no longer part of that count, but are still unemployed?

[converted_democrat]

12. What I wonder is, what kind of jobs were created? I would bet that they

were low paying service (you want fries with that?) industry jobs, and that's assuming they're not outright lying about the creation of the jobs in the first place..


Edited for clarity..

[Karmakaze]

17. I doubt ANY jobs were created.

Its a trick! There are so many ways they can remove people from the "official" unemployment tally, that a well respected financial adviser in the US has said the true unemplyment rate is closer to 12%. I believe they have simply found a way to take more people off the role this reporting term than the last.

[borlis]

13. I would like to know just "WHO" is hiring?

My sister works for Kraft and they haven't really done any hiring since before 9/11. Just eliminating. This morning I heard that 1000 people will be taking a buyout from Allstate. My hubby has been looking hard for over 2 years (still has a job, but hates it) and has only had a handful of interviews. When I see news releases that so many jobs have been added, it makes me think "How many new Wal-Marts opened last month?"

[corporatemedia]

16. Bureau of Labor Statistics - BLS. Drop the L and you have BS !

Although the corporate media is touting this as "strong job growth", in fact, under Clinton this would have been considered average.

And don't forget that the "real" numbers for March don't come out until next month. There is almost always a downward revision.

Example:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CNBC/Dispatch/060407markets.aspx

"The rise was just a little higher than economists' expectations for a gain of 200,000. But February payroll gains were revised down to 225,000 from 243,000 and January's rise was revised down to 154,000 from 170,000."

So revisions for Jan. lost 18k and Feb. lost 16k for a total "lost" of 34k. Add to that the revision that will come next month and it's up to about 50k. Subtract that from the 211k and we're down to 161k - NOT ENOUGH JOBS TO KEEP UP WITH THE GROWTH OF THE LABOR POOL.

[MichiganVote]

18. So...these are the jobs Americans will work?

How come they are so shy about saying what they are?

[stanwyck]

19. That's the crux, Michigan

these jobs are under-employment jobs. That's where we are. They may be some growth in employment. But the jobs are low paying with little to no benefits.
We're losing ground. Real wages are at their lowest levels since the mid '60's.
The middle class is, for the first time, decreasing. This is a very bad sign.
A country thrives on a strong middle class - the largest tax base.
And with the Bushies giving corporations and our wealthiest 1% the largest tax breaks, the math is particularly dismal for our country's future.

[MichiganVote]

27. You betcha but why oh why don't the pundits smell out the reality..sigh

[1932]

20. I bet net wages stayed same or dropped even with people being added to

work force.

[flashdebadge]

33. Actually wages increased.

[1932]

35. I don't mean gross wages for all workers.

I mean avg. per person.

Have a link?

[superconnected]

21. I just can't forget the september suprise in 2003

where the numbers for employment for the quarter was negative 100k+ jobs from all the layoffs, and the bush administration pulled back the numbers and said there was an actual gain of
(60k or some figure more than that I'm remembering) jobs because they changed their reporting and now reported part time jobs as full time - something congress had struk down 5 months earlier.

Because of that change in reporting, unemployment numbers before the change are totally not related to after. Ie if Clinton was at 4.3 unemployment in '92 and bush' 4.3 unemployment in 2004 they are not the same thing. Using clintons reporting of a job as full time, would mean bush's unemployment rate of 4.3 was actually over 11.0 percent unemployment.

I can only guess the ways they are mis-stating the unemployment rate now.

Some analysts have guess it's been as high as 13-15% unemployment during bush' presidency, while he was stating it in the 4% range and PUBLICALLY COMPARING IT TO CLINTONS NUMBERS, while knowing there was no comparrison.

------------------
My 23 yo niece just quit her job at fred meyers because they only gave her 20 hours a week, to go to costco who promised her between 32 and 36 hours a week. She noted that she has not had a full time job EVER because retail doesn't do overtime so won't let you go up to 40 hours a week.

One more grind, a job that is one day a week for 1 hour, is reported as FULLY EMPLOYED under Bushes reporting scheme. ALL part time jobs are looked at as fully employed.

Their last giant gain was part time christmas labor they hold up to show the economy is doing better each year.

I'll look up some posts I did at the time of the numbers being skewed by the white house changing the reporting method and tack them on with news reports. It's SCARY that only a handful of reporters caught on. The white house admitted it. And NO senator or representative commented on it even though they had voted it down months earlier.

[Maine-ah]

23. actually I would think it's "big" retailers that don't do overtime

I work retail (and wholesale) and I get 40 hours in the winter, and all the overtime I want in the summer. As far as I know, all of the small retail places (up here anyway) do full time at 40 hours and then overtime. It's just the big retailers that fuck their employees like that.

[AnneD]

29. I think the guess of

11% is close. It sure feels like it did at the start of the Recession we had in Houston in the mid 80's.

I am not sure how to post these, but check out this site for a comparison...
http://www.census.gov/prod/99pubs/99statab/sec13.pdf

[BiggJawn]

22. So, enlistments are up, and they're opening HOW many Taco Bells?

"Service Providing Sector"...Well, going to Iraq and killing Brown People is a "service", no?

[NickB79]

24. The spring construction and landscaping businesses are hiring

It's called seasonal employment. Most of those jobs evaporate in the fall.

[Psephos]

25. Read this thread, and you'd think the world was coming to an end

I don't buy the stats, but then, I don't buy any stats that come from someone with a political stake in the interpretation.

That much said, the US economy is doing better than most European economies, most third-world economies, and even better than most Asian economies. It could be a lot better. I think we all know that. But it's not exactly the Great Depression, either.

Why is an uptick in employment numbers universally greeted with derision on DU? I looked back at past threads - the pattern is set in stone.

I can understand "Yes, but..." kinds of responses, but how can no one have anything good to say about previously unemployed people now cashing a paycheck?

Well, I do. I wish their paychecks were bigger, their dogs skinnier, their love lives more romantic, and their doctor bills covered, but for these previously unemployed people I am glad to know that life is a bit better than it was.

Even poor people have it better here than many others in this world. I have trouble rubbing two nickels together some days but I do okay, and then some.

Peace.

[flashdebadge]

32. thanks for the "glass half full" view. The "half empty" view was tiresome.

From what I'm reading and hearing, college grads are in demand and many company's are hiring. The new home market until last month had been exploding for the last several years. I don't know anyone who is unemployed. For a while I had a friend who had moved up here from florida. He was working on his home here. When he finished, he went looking for employment and found a great job $$$ in 1 week!! I work with a company that has its hands in commercial real estate. I'm talking BIG buildings. We can barely keep up with the demand for bids. The Arch's and GC's can't get your bid fast enough and its been that way for the 15 months. When big buildings are in demand the economy is red hot. The only thing keeping the lid on continues to be the fear that another terrorist attack could sink it all.

[HockeyMom]

31. Morning, Afternoon, or Evening Shift?

Of course, with NO Benefits. Sure a LOT of jobs are being created, if you READ BETWEEN THE LINES.