Agency: Jobless Rates Fall in 11 States

LEIGH STROPE

Associated Press


WASHINGTON - Unemployment fell last month in 11 of 17 battleground states that could decide the presidential election, with Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin showing the biggest declines.

Four battleground states saw jobless rates rise: Arizona, Arkansas, Ohio and Washington. Rates in two of the 17 states remained the same: New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

Overall, unemployment rates were lower in 29 states, higher in 14 states and the District of Columbia, and unchanged in seven states, the Labor Department said Friday.

The latest figures could help boost the re-election efforts of President Bush, whose campaign has been struggling to promote an improving economy amid the increasing difficulties in Iraq. Bush's economic team hit the road and talked up the jobs numbers.

more: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/8724232.htm

military uniforms. And, it does happen to be in "battleground states" and even in Southern states like SC which was hit badly by textile plant closings.

The article was here last week.

They keep hyping this, but how many folks sew or make hummers for a living these days? Also I imagine CACCI and Blackwater and the other groups like that are doing some heavy hiring.

It's the war economy. Article said that it didn't think it would impact the rest of Americans who aren't yet seeing an increase. But, it jumps numbers for the Bushies. They don't care where the numbers come from as long as it has that "feel good" feel. :-(

Across America, War Means Jobs
Defense Spending Pumps New Life Into Small or Dying Towns

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 11, 2004; Page A01

FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- Along a quiet strip of gray corrugated metal buildings, across the street from a La-Z-Boy distribution center, Gary Allen and his ever-expanding crew are running one of the most urgent operations of the Iraq war. The frenetic activity is repeated all over the country. New kilns in California bake ceramic body-armor plates. Apparel plants in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida and Puerto Rico struggle to keep up with uniform orders. Once-idle textile mills in South Carolina spin rugged camouflage fabric. Army depots operate 24/7 to repair and rebuild the wreckage of war in time to ship it back with the next troop deployment.

In the first three months of this year, defense work accounted for nearly 16 percent of the nation's economic growth, according to the Commerce Department. Military spending leaped 15.1 percent to an annualized rate of $537.4 billion, up from $463.3 billion in the comparable period of 2003, when Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq over."That's pretty good, considering it's only 3 to 4 percent of the economy," said Joseph Liro, an economist at the New Jersey-based research firm Stone & McCarthy. "For one quarter, that's a pretty big number."

It is impossible to know how many of the 708,000 jobs created in the past three months are defense-related, since the Labor Department does not track defense contractor employment. But anecdotal evidence suggests the contribution is significant.

The flagging textile and apparel industry, which lost 50,000 jobs last year, gained 2,400 in April and is up 500 through the first four months of 2004, said Charles W. McMillion, president and chief economist of MBG Information Services. That is the first net job gain for the industry in the first four months of any year since 1990, the last year for which the Labor Department maintained statistics. Since civilian textile demand is satisfied largely through imports, "Buy American" military orders must be driving the increases, McMillion said.
More...about the state effects.........

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A15952-2004May10?language=printer

What kind of Jobs?
Low paying ones, that's what.
What kind of Jobs?
Low paying ones, that's what.
And, one more question.
What kind of Jobs?
LOUSY, LOW PAYING, NO BENEFITS ONES....THAT'S WHAT KIND!!!!

after the 26 weeks. We laid off 2/3s of our staff a year ago Jan. some are still enemployed but are not counted in the unemployment figures. It seems that no-one wants to find out the truth about unemployment data. Dana ; )

We all know the old racket. Once your 13 weeks are up, you're no longer counted as unemployed.

Another big racket is having two part time jobs. A single person working TWO part-time jobs will show up as TWO EMPLOYED PEOPLE in payroll filings. Don't forget that these are low paying jobs without benefits.

We are trading high-paying middle class jobs for part time jobs. The added benefit is that employers can get out more hours this way. A person can work up to 80 hours a week at two different jobs and receive ZERO overtime.

Do you see the strategy now??????

Good article about impact of unemployment on people"
http://www.tribnet.com/news/story/5088416p-5015907c.html

A broader "alternate" statistic does exist, although it is rarely reported. It includes both discouraged and part-time workers who can't find full-time work. Once workers like Comstock, Woodland, Espino and Hartwell are added into this mix, Washington's 6.3 percent unemployment rate for April actually would have been about 10.8 percent. Nationally, April's 5.6 percent jobless rate would have come in at 9.6 percent.

who's got jobs? where?

how many people are in jail, how many people have quit looking, how many have taken lower paying jobs, etc.?
thes improvement numbers are trotted out but don't tell the whole story by a long shot.

the government jobs again?

ment benefits; obviously many are no longer being counted.