U.S. Unemployment Drops to 7.7 percent

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released it’s monthly jobs report this morning. The numbers show that the employment situation in the country as a whole is getting better. The Unemployment rate has dropped to 7.7%, the lowest level in four years. Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 146,000 in November.

The improvement in the unemployment picture comes despite the effects of Hurricane Sandy which dealt a hard blow to jobs ans the economy on the east coast. The government said the storm, did not have substantial effect on employment in November.

“Our analysis leads us to conclude that Hurricane Sandy did not substantively impact the national employment and unemployment estimates for November,” said John Galvin, acting commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While the economy is still getting better, the Republicans in Congress need to stop their partisan intransigence and accept the fact that the Bush tax cuts for the top two-percent of Americans needs to expire. The cuts for the middle class, need to be extended, and the so-called “fiscal cliff” must be avoided if our economy is still going to grow.

The GOP forced the deal that created the “fiscal cliff,” and if they want to avoid the dramatic costs of that decision, they are the ones who need to compromise. President Obama has said for a long time that the solution to our deficit reduction is a balanced approach that combines real increases in revenue, specifically the expiration of the Bush era tax cuts for the top two-percent, and cuts in sppending.

13 Comments

  1. “U.S. Unemployment Drops to 7.7 percent” …

    And now the REST of the story:

    … because more than 500,000 people dropped out of the labor market. If another 500K drop out BHO could get the unemployment rate below 7%.

    Wouldn’t that be great? Shit, let’s go for another million dropping out and shoot that unemployment rate down to 6%!

      • “74% of the jobless who have been removed from unemployment calculations are in the 16-54 age bracket, with only 26% in the 55 and above bracket. Yes, the population is aging – but the heart of the workforce participation deception isn’t about the old.”

        “When we pierce through this statistical smoke and mirrors and factor back in those 9 million jobless whom the government has defined out of existence, then the true unemployment rate is 19.9% and rising, and not 8.3% and falling.

        For the small percentage of people who are aware that the purported decline in unemployment rates is primarily based on the mysterious rapid decline in “labor force participation rates” rather than the number of new jobs, the government has a ready and sensible-sounding explanation: the Boomers are beginning to retire in large numbers, and with an aging population, the percentage of adults who are in the workforce should logically be declining.”

        Graph C:
        http://danielamerman.com/articles/2012/WorkC.html

        • As the Boomers age, the decline in workforce participation was foreseen years ago. And that slide will continue.

          But you can’t define “real” unemployment by holding the participation rate from some fixed point in time, as Mr. Amerman’s charts do.

  2. “Economist Eileen Applebaum of the liberal Center for Economics and Policy Research says the real problem is a lack of jobs. Another 25 million people would work in a healthy economy ..”

    • You had the spectacle of some corporations threatening to fire workers if Obama was re-elected.

      And you have some corporations making enough money to hire workers back, but they won’t because all they want is to see this President fail.

      Gotta love ’em…they sure know how to put country first.

  3. Let’s see … 25 million who would work if jobs were available and 15 million more on Food Stamps in the last 4 years. Yeah …. sounds like the economy is going in the right direction – not.

  4. A year ago the unemployment had the 1st unemployed (state UI) plus fed tier1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and EU.

    Those added up gave the unemployed 99 weeks (about 2 years)

    Now there is 1st unemployed (state UI) plus fed and tier 1 only, that come to about 39 weeks total.

    So the unemployed of a year ago are no longer on the rolls (9.1 percent)

    So it could be said that the current 7.7 percent added to the 9.1 percent who been kicked off the rolls would provide a more accurate picture in the amount of 16.8 percent.

    How can you have faith in a government that changes the lie being spoken every time their lips move?

  5. If you don’t agree and don’t like the numbers just blame George Bush. It has worked well for Obama so far.

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