Jobless at 6.7%

[Sava]

Reuters
11:07 a.m. CST, March 7, 2014

U.S. job growth accelerated sharply in February despite the icy weather that gripped much of the nation, easing fears of an abrupt economic slowdown and keeping the Federal Reserve on track to continue reducing its monetary stimulus.

Employers added 175,000 jobs to their payrolls last month after creating 129,000 new positions in January, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate, however, rose to 6.7 percent from a five-year low of 6.6 percent, as Americans flooded into the labor market to search for work.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-february-jobs-report-20140307,0,1325824.story

Bad for Republicans in 2014.

And people still remember you were responsible for... pretty much what will be remembered as the second Great Depression... caused by one party/ideology's lust for power and wealth... and blocking recovery efforts every chance they got just for spite/racism/idiocy or some combination of the three.

BYE NOW

also, i just realized it went from 6.6 to 6.7

OH WELL

[DinoDoc]

Bad for Republicans in 2014.

Wanna bet?

[Sava]

I'm a Christian man. I don't gamble.

[snoopy369]

6.7% is still slightly high but is within a percent or so of full employment (5.5%-6%), so it certainly seems like we're doing okay (and any minor fluctuations are not significant at this point - as noted, in this case it probably went up as some people left their underemployed jobs to seek better ones). I suspect there's still a percent or two of significant underemployment, but that looks like it will sort itself out in the next year or so.

[DinoDoc]

I suspect there's still a percent or two of significant underemployment, but that looks like it will sort itself out in the next year or so.

The U-6 rate in February was 12.6 percent.

[DaShi]

Republicans will always find another percent to meet their message. Reality be damned!

[MrFun]

Wanna bet?

We know. You want to see more people unemployed and miserable to increase the odds of Republicans winning elections. You're such a cool dude.

[Dinner]

Wanna bet?

Republicans will do well as it is an off year election but then they'll do poorly in 2016 as Presidential elections are high turn out elections.

[Ben Kenobi]

6.7% is still slightly high but is within a percent or so of full employment (5.5%-6%), so it certainly seems like we're doing okay (and any minor fluctuations are not significant at this point - as noted, in this case it probably went up as some people left their underemployed jobs to seek better ones). I suspect there's still a percent or two of significant underemployment, but that looks like it will sort itself out in the next year or so.

As DD posted, we're at 30 year lows for workforce participation. U-12 is the more accurate indicator, and it's quite clear there there are actually fewer people working in the workforce now than in 2008, before the crisis - despite 6 years of population increases.

This is scary bad.

[Ben Kenobi]

We know. You want to see more people unemployed and miserable to increase the odds of Republicans winning elections. You're such a cool dude.

I suspect Dinodoc doesn't much care for the same folks who have blamed Bush for the last 6 years.

[Dinner]

As DD posted, we're at 30 year lows for workforce participation.

There is nothing remotely surprising about this as it has been forecasted for decades now. The baby boomers are starting to retire so, of course, retired people no longer work. There is nothing anyone can do about that short of requiring baby boomers to work until they drop or allowing more immigrants in.

[Kidlicious]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,1325824.story

Bad for Republicans in 2014.

And people still remember you were responsible for... pretty much what will be remembered as the second Great Depression... caused by one party/ideology's lust for power and wealth... and blocking recovery efforts every chance they got just for spite/racism/idiocy or some combination of the three.

BYE NOW

also, i just realized it went from 6.6 to 6.7

OH WELL

Yeah, I heard the're issuing subprime loans again but calling it something else. Democrats haven't done **** but spend money.

[snoopy369]

The U-6 is historically around 4 percentage points higher than U-3 (U-5 is historically around 1 point higher) during full unemployment (but not over-employment, like we had at times in the recent decade). Currently it's around 6 points higher and U-5 is around 1.5 points higher, so it's about 2 points higher than it ought to be. It's also falling like a rock.

I don't think any reasonable person can say we're not on the road to a full recovery right now, and I don't really know why one would want to object; it's not like saying the economy is recovering is equivalent to saying Obama is an amazing president or something. The economy is recovering because it's what our economy does - have periodic bumps and then recovers. This was a higher one than usual, and will have some lasting effects (in particular, recessions have significant long-term effects on older professional workers who lose their jobs, as they often are unable to rejoin the workforce after the recession is over); but it's largely over for the majority of workers, and in most locations it's shifted to an employee-favoring job market rather than an employer-favoring market (ie, top employees are in high demand, job postings stay open for a longer time due to inadequate supply, salaries are rising, etc.)

[Sava]

There isn't going to be a recovery until we change fundamental flaws to the tax code... meaning, rich people and corporations need to actually pay theirs.

[Kidlicious]

There isn't going to be a recovery until we change fundamental flaws to the tax code... meaning, rich people and corporations need to actually pay theirs.

Corporations aren't hiring so tax the **** out of them.