Spokane7
67°
November 5, 2011 in Nation/World
Better employment numbers help ease recession fears
WASHINGTON – America’s private sector has added jobs three months in a row, the government reported Friday, a development that signals that the U.S. economy is leaving the recession further behind, though it’s still far short of robust growth.
Private employers added 104,000 jobs in October, the Labor Department said in its monthly jobs report, though a loss of 24,000 government jobs tempered that, leaving net employment growth at a weaker-than-hoped-for 80,000 for the month.
But upward revisions of previous months’ job estimates show that employers added more than 100,000 jobs in each of the last three months, offering a more encouraging picture than had been apparent in earlier reports.
Those numbers still won’t do much to knock down the jobless rate, which fell one-tenth of a percentage point in October to 9 percent, a rate that President Barack Obama, who’s facing re-election next year, said was too high.
“I have to tell you the least of my concerns at the moment is the politics of a year from now. I’m worried about putting people back to work right now, because those folks are hurting and the U.S. economy is underperforming,” Obama said during a news conference at the close of a summit in France with leaders of industrialized nations.
Economists on the left and the right seconded that view. They agreed that unemployment will remain high until the economy is creating more than 150,000 jobs monthly, the number that’s needed just to keep pace with new entrants into the job market.
“At this pace, we’re looking at sluggish growth, modest job creation and stubbornly high unemployment for the foreseeable future,” Martin Regalia, the chief economist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.
Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist with the liberal Economic Policy Institute, which favors more aid to the jobless and more government efforts to spark employment, agreed.
“At this rate, the labor market will never start putting the backlog of nearly 14 million unemployed workers back to work,” she wrote in an analysis. “In other words, given the enormous scope of the unemployment problem, this minimal level of job creation will keep us mired in disastrously high unemployment.”
Still, many economists found the report encouraging Friday.
“This is a very solid report, especially compared to much-diminished expectations,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist for forecaster Moody’s Analytics. “The 80,000 gain in payroll jobs was on the light side, but there were big upward revisions to previous months. Household employment also increased strongly for the third consecutive month, suggesting that job growth at smaller establishments is firming.”
Economists were especially heartened by the upward revisions of previous employment estimates for August and September. The Bureau of Labor Statistics now estimates that there were an additional 47,000 private-sector jobs created in August and 55,000 in September.
“This report is significantly stronger than the headline employment gain would suggest and there is evidence that a trend to stronger job creation may be forming,” forecaster RDQ Economics in New York wrote in a note to investors.
Less encouraging, the hard-hit construction sector shed an additional 20,000 jobs in October. Manufacturing, which had been improving, was largely unchanged with the addition of just 5,000 jobs. Chad Moutray, the chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers, was upbeat nonetheless.
“Despite the lower unemployment rate, these numbers continue to show an economy that is growing insufficiently to generate enough jobs. However, the net 5,000 increase in manufacturing employment was a nice improvement from the past two months, which experienced modest declines,” he wrote in his blog Shopfloor.org.
Also deep in the numbers, there was improvement in one of the bleakest indicators, the number of long-term unemployed. The number of people who’ve been jobless for six months or longer fell by 366,000 to 5.9 million. That’s a big drop, but the long-term unemployed still account for 42.4 percent of the 13.9 million jobless Americans.
Stocks plummet as outlook in Europe dims 
Dazzeetrader11 on November 05 at 1:55 a.m.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/right_direction_or_wrong_track
Yep…sure looks good!
Dazzeetrader11 on November 05 at 2:00 a.m.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/chart-of-the-day-consumer-confidence-drops-to-early-2009-level/247317/
One report without significant change brightens our day? Let’s hope it continues;)
oneanddone on November 05 at 4:32 a.m.
This sounds more like democrat drum beating than objective analysis and reporting.
drywitt99 on November 05 at 5:31 a.m.
To you and Dazed…….yeah….it probably does.
Just like press coverage of Lin Laden’s death???
JBlim on November 05 at 6:14 a.m.
Poor onedone, the economy looking better is foiling all the right’s plans to beat Obama by trashing America’s middle class. Even reporting facts causes an outcry of bias.
crazyivan44 on November 05 at 6:24 a.m.
No JBlim, it just further exemplifies the agenda of this no good piece of trash president who has no moral objection to blatantly lying straight to the media claiming just about everything he does isn’t a political stunt to get re-elected. Next thing you know he’ll claim victory for all of the extra jobs created for the holidays this month and next even though they evaporate in January. Any republican instead of obama? I’ll do ya one better, how about ANYONE except obama??
drywitt99 on November 05 at 6:33 a.m.
Crazy…..more than a name……an apt description…..
JBlim on November 05 at 6:36 a.m.
crazyivan. Awe, you sound like you just don’t like Obama.
JBlim on November 05 at 6:38 a.m.
drywitt, I hope you’ll continue to post here even after you move to libtown . .
drywitt99 on November 05 at 6:49 a.m.
Of course.
Can’t abandon Spokane’s endangered liberal minority to the looney ‘baggers??
another_perspective on November 05 at 7:45 a.m.
How can there be a viable credible analysis when the data taken is so skewed?
You really trust the Federal Government to not lie to you?
Byrdie714 on November 05 at 8:11 a.m.
Yet this article didn’t mention that the hiring in October was for the Holiday rush…..
It will come crashing down again in January…..
JBlim on November 05 at 9:08 a.m.
Byrdie, the numbers are seasonally adjusted
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20111580.htm
schleufer on November 05 at 9:34 a.m.
after the destruction the republicans made and left for obama my 401k sure looks alot better these days and it is still getting better even at a slow pace and its all happening without help from republicans. the republicans have done nothing but get in the way of progress. our economy effects the global economy. boehner and his bunch are willing to cause global problems so that when the election rolls around they can try to blame obama and they will. when the unemployment rate dropped to 9% eric cantor said thats just not good enough! who is he to critisize anybody since he is part of the problem.
Dazzeetrader11 on November 05 at 11:14 a.m.
Worry about “mine” much Schlueef? Nice attitude. Your 401 is getting better because Wall St was left untouched by Obama.
Isn’t that why the Occupiers are angry?
See you guys thought your “champion” was going to come in a clean house. Guess what? He did nothing. This is why Schleuf ‘s 401 is moving ahead. Doesn’t have much to do with Obama. He just left us alone. And millions were made!
On the other hand, he did give some nice speeches to fool you:) Go Obama! The economy doesn’t improve because some author somewhere writes a cheerleader article. It’s a tough slog. Obama doesn’t want the slog to recover. Nope…he’s more into junking the system and going far left like Europe. His time is about up. Worst approval at 3 years ever.
He put the US in debt…one big debt for the ages and we got nothing in return but the debt. Stimulus failed…but that $3.7 trillion sent overseas was a real problem. That one wont’ go away. Now he wants another $447 billion for jobs? Nothing doing. He’s incompetent in his spending.
He was a rookie with ideas when he showed up and he’ll leave the same way. WE have the debt, he’ll have millions in his dirty pockets. The country will NOT recover untill he’s long gone.
Van! Go Van! WOW! ……you are the “harshmeister of the day!”
Dazzeetrader11 on November 05 at 11:17 a.m.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/indexes/rasmussen_consumer_index/rasmussen_consumer_index
JBlim on November 05 at 11:26 a.m.
Dazzee says “Obama doesn’t want the slog to recover. Nope…”
Only the lunatic right-wing fringe believes that, Dazee.
richard on November 05 at 11:59 a.m.
The job growth numbers don’t reflect the “real” story, which is the number of families that are lnow living under the poverty level in the past 3 years. It doesn’t reflect that 43 million Americans are now on food stamps - a much higher number than just 3 years ago.
So toot your “Great Job Obama” horns all you want, the increased job numbers only serve the goal of media reporting to hide the real “misery index” numbers since Obama took over,
Dazzeetrader11 on November 05 at 12:20 p.m.
Blimmer…his schema only works if everything in his way is torn down. When he says” hard times ahead” he means it. Tearing down one system and replacing it with another is a painful process but that’s what’s going on now. Of course the left STILL blames Bush but that’s impssible anymore. Richard points out a key finding. More food stamps in the history of the program are feeding people. A social program to cover for budding socialism. Of course it’s painful and it’ll continue to be painful……transitioning a system is always painful. In the old days it was violent. Now though, it’s just a non violent takeover with Obama doing his usual…giving sppeches to support his friends.
It’ll be crazier in the next 12 months. Obama’s been discovered .not by the left …but by normal Americans. he’ll be gone but it’ll be “colorful” as he tries to forge ahead. This economy is in shambles. He’s tried to block oil. Off shore drilling has been reduced tremendously. He wasn’t counting on Wyoming and N Dakota to find billions of barrels of black gold. While he tried his best to obfuscate, Americans have found a way to work around him.
Obama needs to find millions of “Stupid People” to be elected again. Those people are now fading fast in numbers. Obam should be president…of another country. I hope he gets his chance in Europe.
greenlibertarian on November 05 at 1:37 p.m.
Notice again the decline in government sector jobs which has been the only consistent employment trend for two+ years.
Yet the teabaggers still complain about “big gubbmint”.
Dolts.
JBlim on November 05 at 2:02 p.m.
Funny how the right-wing says government can’t solve our problems, then blames Obama for not solving the problem for business. Apparently, the big businessmen can’t stand on their own two feet.
DDC on November 05 at 3:46 p.m.
GDP…………………………….$14T
Gov Spending…………………$ 6T
Being manipulated into
believing government
should control more
of your money………………….Priceless
greyhound2 on November 05 at 4:14 p.m.
Globalization and Trade Agreements are just union busting in a new dress.
jddavis on November 05 at 4:26 p.m.
See! I told you Obuma would fix the jobs problem!
He even said: “I have to tell you the least of my concerns at the moment is the politics of a year from now.” He knows that a year from now it’ll be too late!
JBlim on November 05 at 5:32 p.m.
DDC says:
“GDP…………………………….$14T
Gov Spending…………………$ 6T”
6 Trillion? Source?
GDP $14.66 trillion (2010 est.)
Budget: expenditures: $3.456 trillion (2010 est.)
source:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2056.html#us
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on November 05 at 6:12 p.m.
I think this kind of news makes the conservatives [tea and ultra, mostly] nervous because they’re afraid if the economy improves Obama might get re-elected, and that would be worse than the economy staying bad (or getting worse).
Dazzeetrader11 on November 05 at 6:37 p.m.
Some make money no matter who the president is.
It’s the freedom issue. he’s paralyzed the country with his principals (socialism) and practice ( uneven performance).
When he espouses one thing but does another, he simply cannot be trusted. Americans aren’t stupid ( except for the far left!!!) . They know a phoney when they see one. Thus Obama’s polls on his performance will continue to deteriorate. It’s not the money..it’s “operatio sequitur esse” that worries smart people.
DDC on November 05 at 8:20 p.m.
@JBlim.
You need to incorporate State and Local taxes along with Federal. I’m also pulling 2011 estimates. US 2011 budget was over $3.6T, State and Local is at $2.4T right now. Put ‘em together, you get $6T.
Here’s another great resource:
http://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/statelocal_revenue_2011USbn
You’re right on the $14.7 T. I’m familiar with the CIA site…it’s a great resource.
In essence, the layers of government are on track to spend 41 cents of every dollar earned in 2011. That’s an across the board 41% tax rate for all earnings. That doesn’t factor the taxation of inflation at 2 to 3 percent (now).
Rich, Poor, Blue, Red…if you’re a earner, on average, you’re now working until June before the money you earn is yours.
I’m not changing anyone’s mind here, but I don’t believe most people are aware that 41 cents of every dollar they earn is spent by someone they don’t know and basically doesn’t give a rip about them.
Most people wouldn’t pledge 41 cents out of every dollar they earn to their best friend, why are they so inclined to let the government have it? I
JBlim on November 06 at 10:43 a.m.
DDC, some folks want something for nothing. They want to use our roads and bridges, our courts, they expect police and fire protection of their homes and business, they want protection from foreign aggression from our military, they want to hire educated workers with skills, but they don’t want to pay. That’s what I would call a freeloader, or a Republican whiner.
DDC on November 06 at 3:52 p.m.
And some folks just don’t want to compete. It’s too…”taxing”.
misjustice on November 06 at 6:13 p.m.
My “evidence” that the economy is improving?
The corporation that I am a cog in the wheel at is quietly giving back the five percent pay cuts they took from hourly workers 3 years ago. The reason? The economy is improving and they don’t want to lose good workers to the competition which they expect will ramp up hiring in the new year (as will the corporation that I work for).
But you didn’t hear that from me!
; )