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Fri 2 Apr, 2004 07:47 am
Watching CNBC and the floor of the Stock Market is going insane over the stonger than expected jobs data from the Department of Labor.
Dept. of Labor reports that employment in all sectors have gone up except manufacturing (manufacturing has remained flat)
Dept of Labor reported that U.S. jobs in March grew at the highest rate in 4 years
Even the average hourly wage is up.
The Euro is dropping against the dollar.
They are snatching up U.S. Bonds like its an after Christmas sale.
Dow ... look at it go.
S&P Index ... headed higher.
NASDAQ is heading up up up.
<Kerry turns on the T.V., turns pale and looks at his staff>
"We are SO screwed"
Jobless Rates Rise in Key Election States
WASHINGTON (AP) ?- Unemployment rates increased in February in nine of 17 battleground states that could decide the presidential election in November.
Jobless rates fell in six of the most contested states and held steady in two others, according to figures released Wednesday by the Labor Department.
Polls consistently show that jobs and the economy are the most important issues to voters, and that a majority think Democrat John Kerry is better suited to improve the situation than President Bush. The economy is growing, but hiring is near a standstill.
Overall, unemployment rates were lower in 24 states and Washington, D.C., in February, higher in 19 states and unchanged in seven, the report said. Businesses cut their payrolls in 27 states and increased hiring in 20 states and Washington, D.C. Hiring essentially was unchanged in three states.
The loss of some 400,000 jobs to other countries has become a hot political issue. It also is taking a toll on confidence in the economy, said Wells Fargo's chief economist, Sung Won Sohn.
"It's not a huge number, but psychologically, its been a much bigger issue," he said. "The fear of losing jobs has been very worrisome to people in the labor force."
The economy has shed 2.2 million jobs since Bush took office in January 2001. He sought to boost confidence in his economic policies this week, focusing on jobs on Tuesday in Wisconsin and planning a West Virginia trip for Friday.
"You ask any business leaders here, they can tell you what it's like to try to manage during the recession," Bush said in Wisconsin. "There's uncertainty, the workers are getting anxious, sometimes you have to lay some people off. Recession is tough for a country to deal with."
Missouri, a state Bush won in 2000, was one of nine battleground states where the jobless rate rose in February. The rate jumped to 5.1% from 4.7% and businesses cut 19,200 jobs from their payrolls. The nation's jobless rate is 5.6%.
"It's going to be interesting to see who gets blamed ?- the president or the governor," said David Webber, associate professor of political science at the University of Missouri at Columbia.
Jobs and the economy are top concerns, but Missourians don't appear to fault Bush, Webber said. Instead, Democratic Gov. Bob Holden, presiding over a state budget shortfall, has been wearing the bulls eye. That could change, Webber said.
"I think jobs are going to be much more of an issue than we thought two months ago," he said. "Iraq has become too complex for most people, and everybody understands jobs."
In Arizona, another battleground state that Bush won in 2000, the jobless rate ticked up to 5.3% from 5.2% in January.
Arizona is one of the fastest-growing states, companies are relocating there and hiring, said Fred Solop, political science professor and pollster at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. The economy ranks first among residents in surveys, but their concerns are related to the kinds of jobs available and wages that lag behind rising living costs, he said.
"It's about people trying to find jobs that are equivalent to their education and skill level," Solop said.
So far, Bush doesn't appear vulnerable on the economy in Arizona.
"But there is a long time between now and the election, and the politics of the state are in flux with many new people coming in," Solop said.
Many analysts believe things will improve nationally.
"That's still the likely scenario," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com. But the pace of job creation will be slow ?- even sluggish ?- for the rest of the year, he said.
The nation's unemployment rate has dropped to 5.6% from a high of 6.3% last summer. The rate for March will be released Friday by the Labor Department.
States that lost the most jobs in February were Missouri, down 19,200; Georgia, down 11,700; Ohio, down 10,900 and Indiana, down 9,600.
States that had the largest hiring gains were Florida, up 16,100; Tennessee, up 13,300, North Carolina, up 11,900; Texas, up 9,600, California, up 8,800, and Wisconsin, up 8,700.
Among the battleground states, rates rose in February in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Rates declined in Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington. Rates were unchanged in Iowa and Michigan.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
308,000 new jobs this MONTH.
.
.
.
The writer of that article should have waited a few days to write hisarticle so he didn't lok so foolish at the most recent figures.
Titus wrote:Jobless Rates Rise in Key Election States
"Missouri, a state Bush won in 2000, was one of nine battleground states where the jobless rate rose in February. The rate jumped to 5.1% from 4.7% and businesses cut 19,200 jobs from their payrolls. The nation's jobless rate is 5.6%.
In Arizona, another battleground state that Bush won in 2000, the jobless rate ticked up to 5.3% from 5.2% in January.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
I love the way some writers skew the facts to suit their needs.
As per the above article, both Missouri and Arizona's unemployment rate raised .2% and .1% respectively and yet their unemployment rate was still
LOWER than the national average...
Sounds to me like thay are still in pretty good shape.
5.1% and 5.3 unemployment is still considered VERY low.
Is that 308,000 jobs created HERE or does that number include new jobs created for the purpose of off-shoring to India, Vietnam, Pakistan, Ireland and Mexico?
A link would be extremely useful.
I seriously doubt Bush will be able to replace the 3 million jobs lost on his watch by November.
In any event, when I watch CNBC, time after time, when CEOs are polled, I have never seen more than 25% of them say they plan to hire this year.
Titus wrote:
During the Bush Administration, 2.9 million private sector jobs have been lost - the worst job creation record in 70 years. At the same time, we have lost 2.8 million manufacturing jobs. To keep pace with the number of jobs available for working adults when President Bush took office, we would now need 7.1 million more jobs.
That is absurd... if we had actually 'lost' 2.9 million ps jobs
AND 2.8 million manu jobs, don't you think that the Democrats would be screaming about the 5.7 million jobs lost? The data you posted here was just inaccurate.
Titus wrote:The Labor Department reported this week that more companies conducted mass layoffs this past January than in any other month on record - over 2,400 companies.
And yet the unemployment rate didn't climb ... looks like there are just as many people getting new jobs as people getting laid off.
Titus wrote:The Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans have failed to extend unemployment benefits despite continued high unemployment and lack of job growth, and despite the fact that $20 billion will be sitting, untapped, in the Unemployment Insurance Trust funds at the end of March. These are funds that should benefit our unemployed.
Lets make this perfectly clear so there is no room for misunderstanding:
5.6 to 5.7% unemployment is NOT high. It is in fact, VERY low. (this is the same figure that former President Clinton ran on while his party trumpeted from the rafters at the
'lowest unemployment in years'
Titus, your unreasoning hate of the Bush Administration and your blithe acceptance of biased articles that try to twist every victory of the Administration into some sort of defeat, has made you blind to the truth.
The economy
is getting better.
People
are finding jobs.
The terrorists are contained
off our shores.
If this keeps up, Kerry
will lose.
Fedral wrote:The economy is getting better.
People are finding jobs.
The terrorists are contained off our shores.
If this keeps up, Kerry will lose.
Ever tried this, Fedral? :wink:
Om, mani padme hummmmm.......
Must be terribly disappointing to the 'anybody but Bush' people to see that there is very good news re both new jobs created and lower unemployment this week.
I would be interested to see what sources Titus is getting his posts from, but the very tone and manner in which they are worded would suggest they are from intentionally partisan, anti-Bush venues.
this consistent railing of "partisan" when info is not exactly what I want it to be is getting tiresome. everyone of us has inherent bias to news but to consistently deny either side with "anybody but bush" comments are intellectually bankrupt. what is clear from the dept of labor stats released this morning is the the economy is currently a mixed bag of favorable and non favorable news;
Quote:The unemployment rate, 5.7 percent, and the number of unemployed persons,
8.4 million, were essentially unchanged in March. Both measures remained
below their recent highs of June 2003. Unemployment rates for the major
worker groups--adult men (5.2 percent), adult women (5.1 percent), teenagers
(16.5 percent), whites (5.1 percent), blacks (10.2 percent), and Hispanics or
Latinos (7.4 percent)--showed little or no change over the month. The unem-
ployment rate for Asians was 4.2 percent in March, not seasonally adjusted.
(See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
Total employment in March held at 138.3 million, and the employment-popula-
tion ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and over with jobs--was
essentially unchanged at 62.1 percent. The civilian labor force was about
unchanged over the month at 146.7 million, and the labor force participation
rate remained at 65.9 percent. (See table A-1.)
In March, the number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons
increased to 4.7 million, about the same level as in January. These indivi-
duals indicated that they would like to work full time but were working part
time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to
find full-time jobs. (See table A-5.)
l
lets, just to try something a little different, try looking at the picture in its totality and with some degree of reason admit that there are some indications that economic recovery might very well be occuring but there remain some noteably negative residual problems that do not seem all that promising. A mixed bag of indicators indicates promise as well as concern for the current economy.
Looking forward to seeing you again, dys.
Quote:this consistent railing of "partisan" when info is not exactly what I want it to be is getting tiresome.
there are some indications that economic recovery might very well be occuring but there remain some noteably negative residual problems that do not seem all that promising. A mixed bag of indicators indicates promise as well as concern for the current economy.
This is the first time I find myself in agreement with you dys. The economy isn't as doomed as the dems say nor as perfect as the reps say.
Re: U.S. Dollar and Market Rocket Skyward on new jobs data
Fedral wrote:Dow ... look at it go.
S&P Index ... headed higher.
NASDAQ is heading up up up.
Having a bit of money invested in the market,
Fedral, I wish this were true.
But, as of this writing, the Dow is up 77.34, the NASDAQ is up 27.30, and the S&P 500 is up a blistering 7.41. If that's a rocket, I hope we're not shooting for the moon.
Fedral wrote:<Kerry turns on the T.V., turns pale and looks at his staff>
"We are SO screwed"
Nah, we were all saying that back in December of 2000.
Are the Bushites really this desperate?
I suppose so.
Considering that Bush has championed 3 years and 3 months of solid job loses, and a failure to create new jobs at a level not seen since Herbert Hoover, I guess a single good month is enough to make them take to the streets shouting, "Allah is great!"
I believe we should wait and see until April, May, June, July, and August have come and gone and a solid, verifiable period of quarters have past with new jobs creation in each month before pronouncing Bush's jobless recovery is in fact, over.
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