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CBS News...
November
Unemployment: Why the big drop?
By Jill Schlesinger
Reports and comments from CBS News, CNN Money, and House Speaker
Boehner below.
November Unemployment rate drops to 8.6%...
(MoneyWatch) Good news on jobs and no, that’s not a typo. The Labor
Department reported that 120,000 new jobs were added in November and
the unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent, the lowest rate since
March 2009. There was also a pleasant surprise in terms of the past two
months: an additional 72,000 jobs were added in those months.
Why the big rate drop?
The new jobs added numbers were good, but they don’t explain the
big drop in the unemployment rate. This is one of the more confounding
parts of the data: there are two different surveys on which the Labor
Department relies to determine the number of jobs added and the
unemployment rate, so the two readings can sometimes seem at odds, as
is the case in this report.
Unemployment falls: Is it really good news?
The drop in the unemployment rate comes with an asterisk: while there
was a 278,000 gain in employment, there was a concurrent labor force
decline of 315,000 from October. It would be far preferable for the
unemployment rate to drop because the economy is creating over 200,000
per month consistently, rather than due to would-be employees leaving
the work force, either because they’re retiring or they’re simply too
discouraged to keep looking for a job. If some of those people resume
their job searches, we could see the unemployment rate tick up next
month.
The bad news
8.6 percent unemployment is still a very high rate. In fact the jobless
rate has remained above 8 percent since February 2009, the longest
stretch since monthly records began in 1948. Additionally, there are
still 5.7 million long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks and over),
which represents 43 percent of the total unemployed and the average
duration of unemployment rose to 40.9 weeks, the highest on record.
Also, of the 120,000 new jobs created, 50,000 came from the retail
sector, which includes a number of employees added for the holiday
season. The big question is whether those people will keep their
positions beyond Christmas.
But for today, we should take the improvement and hope that a
combination of mildly better than expected domestic news, plus some
hope that the Europeans will reach a conclusion on the debt crisis,
will deliver a holiday gift to the global economy.
November Jobs Report:
-- Jobs Created: +120,000 (October and September revised up by 72,000)
-- Private Sector Jobs Created: +140,000 (from +104,000 in October)
-- Government: -20K (Nearly 550,000 total government jobs lost since
peak in September 2008)
-- Unemployment Rate: 8.6 percent (lowest rate since March, 2009)
-- Under-Employment Rate (marginally-attached, part-time): 15.6 percent
(from 16.2 percent last month -- in 2007, the rate was 8 percent)
-- Total Number of Unemployed: 13.3 million (from 13.9 million)
-- Average monthly jobs gained in 2011: 132,000
-- Total Jobs Lost since beginning of recession in 2007: 6.2 million
-- Long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks and over): 5.7 million
representing 43 percent of the total unemployed (from 5.9 million)
-- Average duration of unemployment: 40.9 weeks, the highest on record
-- Average workweek: 34.3 (unchanged)
-- Average Hourly Earnings: down $0.2 to $23.18 (over past year,
earnings up 1.8 percent)
Read this and other articles at CBS News
CNNMoney...
November jobs report:
Hiring up, unemployment down
By Annalyn Censky
December 2, 2011
Employers added 120,000 jobs in November, sending the unemployment rate
down to 8.6%.
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- Hiring accelerated in November, and
unemployment unexpectedly plummeted to its lowest rate in nearly three
years.
The unemployment rate fell to 8.6%, the Labor Department reported
Friday, the lowest rate since March 2009 and a huge drop from 9% just a
month before.
The decline was much better than expected. Economists surveyed by
CNNMoney had predicted the unemployment rate would remain unchanged.
So why did the unemployment rate fall? Two reasons: yes, more Americans
got jobs, but at the same time, even more people gave up on their job
searches altogether.
It might be a little too early to start celebrating though, said Paul
Ballew, chief economist for Nationwide. The rate could easily tick
higher again, as more people enter and leave the workforce.
“It’s always important to keep in mind, the unemployment rate can
bounce around, depending on who is actively looking for jobs,” Ballew
said.
And the “who” in this case is telling...
Read the rest of this article and others at CNN Money
Boehner Statement on
November Unemployment Report
Dec 2, 2011
Washington-Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester) issued the
following statement today after the Department of Labor released its
unemployment report for November 2011:
“Any job creation is welcome news, but the jobless rate in this country
is still unacceptable. Today marks the 34th consecutive month of
unemployment above eight percent. As you may remember, the Obama
administration promised unemployment would stay below eight percent if
its ‘stimulus’ was enacted. That promise has gone unfulfilled.
“Because the president’s policies have failed, the House has passed a
series of bills designed to remove government barriers to private
sector job creation. There are now 25 bipartisan jobs bills passed by
the House awaiting a vote in the Senate. The key to getting all of
these jobs measures enacted is the United States Senate. President
Obama should use this opportunity to call on Senate Democrats to
immediately give these bipartisan bills the vote they deserve.
“The American people want action on jobs, and the House is listening to
the American people.”
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