Nonfarm payroll employment grew by 243,000 in February

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Friday, March 10, 2006.


THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: FEBRUARY 2006

Nonfarm payroll employment grew by 243,000 in February, and the unemploy-
ment rate was little changed at 4.8 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job gains occurred in con-
struction, financial activities, health care, and several other industries.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of unemployed persons, 7.2 million, and the unemployment
rate, 4.8 percent, were little changed in February. A year earlier, the num-
ber of unemployed was 8.0 million, and the jobless rate was 5.4 percent.

Following a decline in January, the unemployment rate for adult men edged
up to 4.2 percent in February. The jobless rates for the other major worker
groups--adult women (4.3 percent), teenagers (15.4 percent), whites (4.1 per-
cent), blacks (9.3 percent), and Hispanics (5.5 percent)--showed little or no
change over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.2 percent, not
seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

After declining in January, the number of unemployed persons who had been
without a job for 27 weeks or longer returned to its December level of 1.4 mil-
lion. These long-term unemployed accounted for 19.0 percent of total unem-
ployment in February, down slightly from a year earlier. (See table A-9.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force and total employment continued to trend up in
February. The labor force participation rate was essentially unchanged at
66.1 percent, and the employment-population ratio held at 62.9 percent.
(See table A-1.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Nearly 1.5 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally at-
tached to the labor force in February, down from about 1.7 million a year
earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked
for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemploy-
ed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
Among the marginally attached, there were 386,000 discouraged workers in Feb-
ruary, down from 485,000 a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not current-
ly looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available
for them. The other 1.1 million marginally attached had not searched for work
for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.


http://www.bls.gov/web/cesbd.htm
Birth death
Total
-193 116

Why do I have an incredibly hard time believing that?

Even if some new jobs were created, how do we know they weren't created in China, India, etc.?

Bush should be the president of India, b/c he cares more about Indians than the people who put him in office.

But, 41,000 new jobs were in construction. Is there a BLS breakdown by region? I wonder how many of the jobs are from the temporary surge in construction along the Gulf Coast?

Also, 38,000 of the new jobs were PUBLIC SECTOR (Government) jobs.


That leaves 164,000 new jobs which is about at the equilibrium point.


Then we look at wages and see a 0.3% increase in wages. However, January's CPI went up 0.7% and I suspect Feb. will be close (lower, but close).

next they will be saying a billion jobs have been created.

Birth death pretend is a plus 61,000 this month, and still folks just do not want a job!



Feb. Jan. Feb. Feb. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb.
2005 2006 2006 2005 2005 2005 2005 2006 2006

TOTAL

Civilian noninstitutional population.............. 225,041 227,553 227,763 225,041 226,959 227,204 227,425 227,553 227,763
Civilian labor force............................ 147,649 149,090 149,686 148,271 150,043 150,183 150,153 150,114 150,449
Participation rate........................ 65.6 65.5 65.7 65.9 66.1 66.1 66.0 66.0 66.1
Employed...................................... 139,100 141,481 141,994 140,285 142,625 142,611 142,779 143,074 143,257
Employment-population ratio............... 61.8 62.2 62.3 62.3 62.8 62.8 62.8 62.9 62.9
Unemployed.................................... 8,549 7,608 7,692 7,986 7,418 7,572 7,375 7,040 7,193
Unemployment rate......................... 5.8 5.1 5.1 5.4 4.9 5.0 4.9 4.7 4.8
Not in labor force.............................. 77,392 78,463 78,077 76,770 76,916 77,021 77,271 77,439 77,314
Persons who currently want a job.............. 4,844 5,095 4,800 4,985 4,994 4,887 5,167 4,962 4,949

Please.

They always overestimate jobs creation and underestimate unemployment and inflation. The unemployment rate is really running about 12%, that's about 35 million people without jobs.

There are some new numbers I've heard/read batted around on some financial blogs. They are called "perceived" economic indicators. "Perceived" inflation and "perceived" unemployment are what we middle class know to be true but is not reported by the government, major financial institutions or the media. It's the difference between reality and this fantasy economy reported by the corporate media.

This is a strange world when reality is given a different name than what our government and media are telling us.

because it didn't take into account the underemployed (part-timers and temps who can't find full-time work/"You want fries with that?"), people trying to enter or re-enter the job market, those whose unemployment benefits have run out, and those who have given up looking for work. If the "official" rate is 4.8%, the "real" rate is close to 15%.

:headbang:
rocknation

Among blacks, the unemployment rate rose to 9.3 percent from 8.9 percent in January, today's report showed. The jobless rate for Hispanics fell to 5.5 percent from 5.8 percent and for whites held at 4.1 percent for a second month.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aU7rFLgoLD8I&refer=top_world_news

January's jobs figure was revised downward, the unemployment rate inched up and manufacturing job creation was negative.

Under the veneer, the 243,000 new jobs is nothing for the Repugs to crow about.

:headbang:
rocknation