Let the good times roll -- 146,000 new jobs added

[pchang]

We know that average hourly wage is almost unchanged. Thus, the new jobs must pay the same as existing jobs. Thus, the number of minimum wage earners remains unchanged as a percentage of workers. I can personally say that I am hiring and the wage is substantially more than minimum wage (in excess of $100,000 per year with incentives).

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by DanS
I would thank God if it's a Republican successor.

So would he, probably.

[mrmitchell]

DanS that statistics thing is cool

It would be better if [i]every[i] state had an improvement but this is better than nothing...

[Lawrence of Arabia]

I would thank God if it's a Republican successor. We shall see.

Note for the record that I wasn't the one to bring politics into this discussion.

Note for the record that I wasn't the one to bring God into this discussion.

[Colon™]

I admit I did bring Japanese deflation into this discussion. But not-one gives a rat's arse anyway so I guess it's ok.

[pchang]

The US economy must be doing better than people think. I just told people that I am hiring and willing to pay more than $100,000 per year and no one has asked me about the job.

[KrazyHorse]

It's just that nobody wants to work for you

[Whoha]

Guys, jobs growth is ok, it isn't great, its not terrible, its ok. the problem is that we are gunning the engine so to speak. We should be doing one hell of a lot better then this for the massive amount of stimulus being pumped into the system.

[el freako]

Originally posted by Asher
Canada is 67.2% participation in June 2005...US is 66% in June 2005.

Are those rates strictly comparable?
Does Canada's exclude their prison population for instance (the exclusion of the prison population from the US figure raises participation by 0.6%)

Also you have to look at how the data has changed over time - the US figure has beed stuck in the 66% to 67% range for 17 years whereas for the twenty years previous to that it had been rising. If that rise had continued then the US would have 18 million more jobs today than it actually does.

I guess it's worth attaching one of my spreadsheets to this post.

This shows employment as a percentage of working age population (15-64) a different definition than the US one which uses employment as a percentage of the adult population not in prison.

[DanS]

Yesterday afternoon, I tracked down that spreadsheet, which you you posted previously. While I think your calculations have high utility, I maintain my position that it's better to have employment as a percentage of age 15+ rather than a more arbitrary working age population figure. We could argue about whether to account for the prison population, but I feel much less strongly about taking that into account.

[DanS]

Originally posted by pchang
The US economy must be doing better than people think. I just told people that I am hiring and willing to pay more than $100,000 per year and no one has asked me about the job.

Yeh, but you're in CA. It's just too damned expensive to live in CA, despite the fanstastic weather.

BTW, what are these six figure salaried jobs you're handing out?

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by Colon
Sorry for hijacking the thread Dan, but I can't be arsed to start a new thread about it.

I just came across something interesting, namely the Japanese CPI data are adjusted for quality improvements. That's not so shocking on its own, since the same is the case with US CPI data, but it does get interesting if you consider that Japanese purchases on electronics are (substantially?) higher than European or American. At least I assume they are. And electronics tend to improve a lot in quality, even if the actual purchasing costs remain the same.
So this makes me wonder how real Japanese deflation really is.

Deflation in Japan is aggravated (if not created) by the interests rates close to Nil for 15 years; It is often forgotten that interests are an item of the cost of products and services; when this item is smaller than before or even desappear, the sale price can be reduced without reducing the gross margin. Then the consumer expect the price to be reduced again, etc.
The case of electronics is different : the price reduction is caused by increase of the volumes manufactured which trigger considerable productivity improvements; this is not deflation.

[KrazyHorse]

Deflation in Japan is aggravated (if not created) by the interests rates close to Nil for 15 years

Uh...actually, low interest rates free up more money supply, which spurs demand, which creates inflation.

[KrazyHorse]

That's econ 101

low interest = cheap borrowing = increased demand = higher prices

When national banks try to lower inflation they raise interest rates and vice versa

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
That's econ 101

low interest = cheap borrowing = increased demand = higher prices

When national banks try to lower inflation they raise interest rates and vice versa

The problem ignored by this reasonning is that low interest is different from zero interest. Between zero and the economic minimum of interest rate (which is around the inflation rate), the interest reduction has no effect on the growth but negative effect on the price level.
You can remember that the FED was very cautious about deflation when the rate was around 1%