March DOL jobs report-Worst since 83 long term unemployment recorded

[papau]

The March DOL jobs report stated that part-time workers looking for full time work surged from 4.4 million to 4.7 million, but this was not noted by the media as the 300 thousand new jobs was reported. The fact of almost no FULL TIME new jobs created was not worthy of mention?

And we broke another last 20 years negative jobs record in March – and again it was not mentioned. The household survey reported that almost 24 percent of all the people listed as jobless have been unemployed for at least half a year, a full percentage point above the level in February and the highest level since July 1983, when unemployment soared to 9.3 percent (perhaps back in 1983 they had not yet learned the current GOP math/definition rules for the unemployment rate calculation).

Meanwhile the same March job report that left us down 1.9 million jobs since Bush tax cuts brought us prosperity, indicated the average workweek of non-supervisory workers slipped by 0.1 hour, to 33.7 hours, as average weekly earnings fell by 0.2 percent over the month to $523.70.

Gee, $523.70 is barely 1.8 percent higher than it was a year ago. Maybe a comparison to inflation is in order – and perhaps that comparison could include the changes under Bush made to the inflation calculation.

March did so well that the aggregate amount of work outside of farms in the private sector, despite the employment increase, fell (!) according to the index of aggregate weekly hours of production or non-supervisory workers – which index fell by 0.1 percentage point in March to 99 percent.

Does anyone else feel like the media is part of the selling of a Bush lie so as to help Bush?

[kalian]

1. Gasp! Heretic!

:D
"Does anyone else feel like the media is part of the selling of a Bush
lie so as to help Bush?"

Dude! You don't say... Just like when he LIED about Afghanistan and
Iraq... ;)
They're all in this together.

Good catch papau. The numbers now really mean something after you
sift through all the bs spin. BTW, I used this info to counter some
of my repuke father's statements (he was actually quoting...get this..
the Heritage Foundation :eyes: ). Unfortunately...he then proceeded
to accuse his only son of being "closed minded"... :eyes:
Oh well...

[ewagner]

2. Very insightful Papau

My impression was that in the past few months the administration got ripped badly for the spin put on the economic numbers so this time the report was very carefully crafted so that the truth was in nuance rather than headline. Hence, the "quick and dirty" electronic media could freely report the headline without embarrassing, obvious caveats.

[54anickel]

3. Yep, it's all slowly starting to leak out as well. I keep googling the

news for more info on the job creation numbers and there are more and more stories digging into the numbers and coming up with lots of facts and questions about this "surprisingly good report".

Bad thing is, most of the analysis won't get the headline play that the original release did. Shrub got his little boost and temporary diversion from the 9/11, Iraq, intelligence lies headlines that were challenging his "war president" image. They are hoping this will elevate his ratings in economic issues where he is currently polling a good 7% behind Kerry.

Show me numbers like this for 6 months in a row and I might begin to be "somewhat" impressed. But it won't happen, we are not in a recovery, the growth we have been seeing is unsustainable and owes a lot of credit to the low interest rates, housing bubble and equity that people are eating up from their homes. Look what this news brought on in the treasury markets, rates are going to up. How much money do you suppose our foreign creditors lost in yesterdays market?

[54anickel]

12. Another trickle coming out in the news

http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2004/04/03/news/news07.txt

snip>
He noted that most of the increase was because of part-time workers. The number of people who worked part time for economic reasons rose to 4.7 million in March, up from 4.4 million the previous month.

"The average duration of unemployment has been lengthening, persuading unemployed workers to accept part-time jobs," Sohn said.

In March, there were 8.35 million people unemployed, compared with 8.17 million the previous month. The average duration of unemployment has been more than 20 weeks, a 20-year high.

Technical factors also contributed to the overall hiring increase, Sohn said. Good weather helped boost employment in construction, which rose by 71,000 last month. The end of a strike by California grocery workers was a big factor in the increase in retailers' payrolls, which were up by 47,000.

more...

[rock]

4. Damn liberal press

Always making bushsucks* look good

[chelsea0011]

5. The media is into treating jobs and daily market reports as a sport event

These stats only matter long term. And Bush's long term job non-growth economy is what matters. Hey, maybe things will keep ticking slowly up, but wake me up at the end of the year when the totality matters...not one month where the unemployment rate actually rose from 5.6 to 5.7. The media are simpletons. Why do you think they would spend hours covering some dog running in circles because a woman conned them. That is what they do best.

[dweller]

6. Permission to quote your analysis

in a private email to reply to my friend that just sent me 'things are finally looking up' story
http://heraldsun.com/business/21-464519.html in our local paper (he's in NM, but used to work for the rag here).
I gleaned 10-12 pages of LBN to find links to post back about closings, layoffs, etc to send back, but would appreciate sending your analysis for him to consider also.
i'd send the DU link, but then i'm sure he'd never check it. Tried to get him on DU before, no luck..

anonymous advice, and credited as such,
thanks
dp

[teryang]

7. Great job Papau!

You've clearly extracted the kernal of truth from the avalanche of bullshit concerning this report. It wasn't a good report, it was a terrible report. Unemployment is up despite the increase in part time jobs. This report is further evidence of a structural shift in the American economy in which the working environment for Americans continues to deteriorate without respite. Part time jobs are a stopgap for chronically unemployed and underemployed Americans.

The essence of the Bushonian corporatist world view is that a few can be extremely prosperous while the many are marginalized and millions drift into despair and bankruptcy.

[papau]

8. Thanks (looks at shoes and blushes!)

:-)

[teryang]

9. What I'm hoping

...is that the econo-pundits take time to digest this report like you did over the weekend and come to a similar conclusion. The euphoria after this report is an indication that it was misunderstood. I could tell that CNBCs senior economist didn't like the report but the fanfare and spin was so overwhelming he was afraid to come out and say so, so he hedged and admitted it was "good news." To say otherwise is akin to saying Saddam doesn't have WMDs this time last year.

Is it good news, when your household has zero income and you get a part time job with no benefits? Your burn rate is reduced that's all. You're still headed toward bankruptcy. You still can't pay your bills. You can't send the kids to college. Oh, good my economic demise has been postponed for a few months. But when will things get better? The interesting thing is that it put's a lot of pressure on families to borrow more against their homes rather than just selling them outright.

[Loco_moco]

10. Another link...

with thanks to TruthIsAll...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1334888

<snip>
Of the 308,000 "new" jobs:
20,000 returning California grocery workers idled from dispute
47,000 return of striking and locked-out workers
71,000 were EXISTING construction jobs for workers who were idled in February attributed to bad weather.

That's 138,000 jobs that were there in the first place.
There was no increase in manufacturing jobs. And most of the jobs were retail clerks and hamburger flippers paid $3.50-$7.00/hr below average wages.
<end>

..one thing the unemployed and underemployed can do... is VOTE!

[JCMach1]

11. They are just buying the spin with NO analysis...