My Weekly Obama Jobs Report, the Incredibly Shrinking Labor Force edition

Good News Comrades! The November unemployment rate declined by 0.4 percentage points to 8.6%. Here are the relevant stats:

In November, the unemployment rate declined by 0.4 percentage point to 8.6 percent. From April through October, the rate held in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent. The number of unemployed persons, at 13.3 million, was down by 594,000 in November. The labor force, which is the sum of the unemployed and employed, was down by a little more than half that amount.

So 300,000 people gave up on ever finding a job. Well, that's one way to reduce the unemployment rate — despair.

From "Hope and Change" to "Despair and Same Old, Same Old" in just three short years. Is that Obama guy a genius or what?

Here are seven reasons why the November jobs report is "better," but still terrible. Yes, this stuff is gonna be on the final exam, so you'd better read it. The numbers don't lie.

Look, I know statistics are boring. But this stuff is important. The unemployment rate went down because the labor force got smaller. Fewer folks actively searching for jobs means the number of "unemployed" Americans is now lower. Because folks who aren't actively looking for a job aren't technically "unemployed." They're just off the radar. Probably living in a box, somewhere under a bridge, eating cat food. But our government doesn't count them, so why should anyone care, right?

Well that sounds good in theory anyway…

Wait, it's … No, c'mon it can't be! … But it is! An actual jobs initiative from President Obama!

Green buildings!

An idea whose time has come! And gone. Solyndra on steroids, it is. And we all know how well that worked out.

But still! It's an actual idea! From the guy who said 17 weeks ago that he'd have one idea a week for creating jobs. One idea every seventeen weeks is almost the same thing, if you factor in all the time he has to devote to the really important stuff like golf. Oh, and killing Bin Laden. Can't forget that. He definitely took his mind off jobs that week!

The rest of this week's economic news is grim. Food stamp use doubled in NJ during last 4 years. And almost half of us are worried we can't afford our Christmas shopping. Mall Santas are now trained to "manage expectations" when junior asks for something which is clearly beyond the family's reach.

It's not a bad angle, really: "So you see, Billy, Santa's helpers passed a North Pole stimulus and the elf union bosses ended up with most of the toys I was going to bring you. Then I loaned your stocking stuffers to Yukon Cornelius for his solar startup that just went bankrupt. Sorry… Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Sadly, many times Billy just asks Santa to bring his Dad a job.

Look, there's a reason Jillian's looking pensive this week. The good news is an illusion.

Posted at 20:46 by Chris Wysocki   [/economy]   Comments | Perm Link |
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