Actual number of Employed (by Household Survey) declines by 156,000

08-05-2011 • GlobalEconomicAnalysis.blogspot.com

Given the total distortions of reality with respect to not counting people who allegedly dropped out of the work force, it is hard to discuss the numbers. The official unemployment rate is 9.2%. However, if you start counting all the people that want a job but gave up, all the people with part-time jobs that want a full-time job, all the people who dropped off the unemployment rolls because their unemployment benefits ran out, etc., you get a closer picture of what the unemployment rate is. That number is in the last row labeled U-6. While the "official" unemployment rate is an unacceptable 9.2%, U-6 is much higher at 16.2%. Things are much worse than the reported numbers would have you believe, and for the second consecutive month the beneath the surface numbers were bad-to-awful. Note that U3 rose from 9.1% to 9.2% while U6 rose from 15.8% to 16.2%. Thus, the official measure rose .1, while the alternative measure rose .4. This is an "artifact" of 272,000 people dropping out of the labor force this past month.Here is an overview of today's numbers. US Payrolls +117,000 US Unemployment Rate -.1 to 9.1% Participation Rate -.2 to 63.9% accounting for drop in unemployment rate Actual number of Employed (by Household Survey) fell by 38,000 Unemployment rose by 156,000 Those dropping out of the labor force rose by 374,000 Civilian population rose by 182,000, Labor Force declined by 193,000 Average Weekly Workweek was unchanged at 34.3 hours Average Private Hourly Earnings Increased by 10 Cents Government employment decreased by 37,000 - a genuine bright-spot