US Jobs Data Hides The Truth
Official data released Friday says the 2.6 million Americans lost the jobs in 2008, the highest annual increase since the Second World War.
The massed ranks of the US unemployed now stand at 11.1 million, or 7.2 percent.
Amazingly, the news that "only" 524,000 jobs went out of the window in December was greeted with sighs of relief, some had feared 700,000 or more jobs had disappeared.
Consequently the dollar jumped late in the day from a low of $1.5347 earlier, to close at $1.5170.
The important bit here is that the numbers were "seasonally adjusted" - the actual numbers showed a loss of 954,000 jobs, around double the headline number reported in the press release.
Average hours worked dropped to the lowest level since they began collecting data in 1964. But nobody seems to be reporting that bit. This seems to indicate that the unemployment rate is being artificially buoyed by millions of part-time workers.
Many of these are part-time workers who'd like a full-time job but can't get one. Effectively they are job seekers too, they just don't show up in the official numbers.
"Behind the statistics that we see flashing on the screens are real lives, real suffering, real fears," said president-elect Barak Obama.
He must be wondering what the hell he's let himself in for, we know he can talk the talk. News Friday that airplane maker Boeing is planning to cut about 4,500 jobs this year, serves as a stark reminder that it's nearly time to walk the walk. And Obama better have his hiking boots on, because he has a mountain to climb.
The massed ranks of the US unemployed now stand at 11.1 million, or 7.2 percent.
Amazingly, the news that "only" 524,000 jobs went out of the window in December was greeted with sighs of relief, some had feared 700,000 or more jobs had disappeared.
Consequently the dollar jumped late in the day from a low of $1.5347 earlier, to close at $1.5170.
The important bit here is that the numbers were "seasonally adjusted" - the actual numbers showed a loss of 954,000 jobs, around double the headline number reported in the press release.
Average hours worked dropped to the lowest level since they began collecting data in 1964. But nobody seems to be reporting that bit. This seems to indicate that the unemployment rate is being artificially buoyed by millions of part-time workers.
Many of these are part-time workers who'd like a full-time job but can't get one. Effectively they are job seekers too, they just don't show up in the official numbers.
"Behind the statistics that we see flashing on the screens are real lives, real suffering, real fears," said president-elect Barak Obama.
He must be wondering what the hell he's let himself in for, we know he can talk the talk. News Friday that airplane maker Boeing is planning to cut about 4,500 jobs this year, serves as a stark reminder that it's nearly time to walk the walk. And Obama better have his hiking boots on, because he has a mountain to climb.