US Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.3% in January

[Boris Godunov]

No, there isn't. There's a ****load of people who dropped out of the labor force waiting to come back in, keeping the unemployment rate high. I think I'll trust the professionals on this one, thank you very much.

Wait, which economic professionals would say that that significantly stronger-than-expected job growth wouldn't lead to their revising their estimates of future unemployment rates? I'm all ears for that.

[Boris Godunov]

Nice spin.

Early Friday morning, FiveThirtyEight analyzed past employment data and came up with this rough guide: President Obama needs the economy to add at least about 150,000 jobs a month to have a decent shot at re-election.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes...g-o-p-turnout/

Fair enough, I did not remember the gist accurately. But it is a valid point that if the job creation data remains as strong as it was in January, then Obama will likely cruise, yes.

[Af Ra Kam]

Since the 'First Black President' is guaranteed the Black vote anyway, the record Black unemployment isn't even worth acknowledging, much less lying about.

"Consider this: In 2010, in only two metro areas (Washington, D.C. and Dallas) was the black male employment rate higher than 60 percent; conversely, in only two metro areas (Portland and Detroit) was the employment rate for white males lower than 70 percent. Washington, D.C. registered the highest employment rates for all working-age black males (66.6 percent) and for prime working-age black males (79.4 percent). Yet, the top-ranked black male employment rate in Washington, D.C. was lower than even the lowest white male employment rate in any of the large metropolitan areas examined in this study (for both age-cohorts...”

Many of the president's fervent supporters, from the beginning of his first-term campaign have insisted that a black president can't be seen to favor or even notice the plight of black communities, lest he shorten his illustrious career, an obviously more weighty concern than the lifting millions of black families out of poverty and want.

[Tupac Shakur]

Preach.

[giblets]

While unemployment fell in January, it looks like expectations for inflation also fell:

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/Data/inflation_expectations/

[DinoDoc]

(if DD was even portraying it accurately)

Are you stupid? It was a direct copy-paste and there was little way for me to mislead you on the numbers.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/01/31/economic-projections-and-key-numbers-from-cbo-budget-report/?mod=google_news_blog

[DaShi]

No one cares about the estimates. They just care what is happening right now.

[Aeson]

The jobs look like they're decent ones...

[Uncle Sparky]

And these is also a huge difference between a minimum-wage job and NO JOB.

Not really. Many social safety nets will cover basic food & shelter as well as medication and training programs. Minimum wage frequently means choosing - if you are paying $500+ month (plus utilities) for a crappy non rent controlled apt. and making $800/month what will you do with all the extra money? Take a bus to work? Bus pass $50+. Want food? Use a food bank or eat at the restaurant you work at!

[RGBVideo]

didn't we have the exactly same argument ca 2003, with republicans and democrats having the opposite sides of the debate?

employment is a signal of economic growth. if economic growth increases, incumbent politicians gain support.

[giblets]

Not really. Many social safety nets will cover basic food & shelter as well as medication and training programs. Minimum wage frequently means choosing - if you are paying $500+ month (plus utilities) for a crappy non rent controlled apt. and making $800/month what will you do with all the extra money? Take a bus to work? Bus pass $50+. Want food? Use a food bank or eat at the restaurant you work at!

The US has food stamps for people who are seriously poor and I don't think you lose this if you get a minimum wage job so it sounds like they will be okay until they get sick.

[Al B. Sure!]

Food stamps are pretty generous if you eat frugally.