Unemployment Rate is Actually at 14.5%, Despite Obama Administrati...

http://www.policymic.com/articles/6650/unemployment-rate-is-actually-...

Unemployment Rate is Actually at 14.5%, Despite Obama Administration Claims Otherwise

Jesse Merkel in Business, Jobs 5 months ago

Jesse Merkel
A Rochester NY native, Jesse began writing professionally in January 2011 after receiving his Associates from Genesee Community College. Jesse...

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TODAY'S MOST MIC'D STORIES

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20 Mics

On Friday the most recent American jobless numbers hit the wires. The unemployment rate had fallen to 8.2%. While this normally would be perceived as amazing news, people need to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. The experts were all expecting that close to 203,000 new jobs would be added in March. Instead, 120,000 jobs were added. Of course every new job is a bit of desperately needed good news. However, the Obama administration is painting this drip to 8.2% like it is a major achievement. Its not. Theyre being extremely disingenuous about the current state of the economy, failing to tell the American people that the reason the rate has dropped is because there are close to 2 million fewer jobs available in the country now than when President Obama took office.
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The recession has wiped out millions of jobs. They left the economy during the big crash and massive drop off in 2009, and they have not come back. With a smaller number of overall jobs to draw from, the number of unemployed people naturally shrinks. The official Labor Department numbers also do not count the vase number of people who have given up looking for work entirely. With all of this taken into account, the real unemployment rate is actually estimated at a staggering 14.5%. Thats close to double what the administration and the Labor Department are reporting. Millions of men and women have been out of work so long that they have simply given up. Theyre no longer looking, so they are no longer counted as unemployed. And the numbers only continue to get worse the more someone digs. The number of people who are currently not in the labor force has soared to nearly 88 million. March also marked the straight deficit month. This pattern of spending began heavily during the initial stages of the collapse and picked up steam after Obama took the reins in 2009. Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney pounced on the news immediately, blaming the president's reckless spending and anti-business policies for an economy that by all accounts appears to be stagnating. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently warned that the economy is not growing at a strong enough rate to sustain strong growth in terms of jobs. It could also stall the falling unemployment rate, even though the numbers are artificially lowered. The president may not have caused the economic crisis, but he sure isnt helping much. Obama was forced to admit that many of the "shovel ready" jobs in his bloated stimulus bill were not as shovel ready as they had thought, which brings up serious questions as to just how much of a handle the president and his staff have on economics. 40th

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Unemployment Rate is Actually at 14.5%, Despite Obama Administrati...

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The Obama administration has poured hundreds and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into green energy companies like Solyndra. This magical wave of green energy was supposed to be but the crest on an emerging industry that would be responsible for millions of new jobs. Each of these companies has now gone bankrupt, while other projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline are put on hold or slowed to a snail's pace. The administration can cheer 8.2% and blame previous presidents all they want, but they cannot change basic math. Eighty-eight million people who are eligible to work are not working. Millions are actively looking and cannot find a job, while others still have to settle for part-time employment. Debt and deficits are backbreaking, and its only going to get worse. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) recently finished going through every page of Obamacare, calculated that it will end up creating nearly $17 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Its good that 120,000 people found work last month, but it does not change the fact that the tools used to measure the recovery do not reflect reality. No amount of media salivating over these numbers will change the fact that millions of people cannot find work, and millions more have simply given up. In 2006, when the Democrats and the liberal media were frantically trying to say Bush had already driven the country into a massive recession, the Dow Jones was approaching 14,000 points and unemployment averaged 4.6%. The administration could be playing the expectations game. Claim that a number that used to be appalling is now a blessing and hope people come to accept it. President Obamas Keynesian style economic policies have not led to some miraculous recovery, although hes no doubt hoping that there are enough people out there unaware of the facts to boost him through the election. The manner in which the administration puts out information is an insult to the American peoples, intelligence. Yes, other administrations have played this game before, but wasnt this supposed to be the most transparent administration of all time? There may be no hope unless we wind up with a change come November.
Picture Credit: Lawrence Jackson

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The Discussion
Paul Leuck 5 months ago

As you note, the issue is in how the number is and has been calculated. This isn't something unique to the Obama administration and can't really be pinned on them.
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Julie Schau

5 months ago

I've seen web posts stating Obama chose to remove unemployment among Veterans to make the numbers better going into 2012 election year. I am looking for PROOF - either way. Can someone help me? Thx
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Ryan P.

5 months ago

Has the formula for generating the released figure, 8.2%, changed since Obama took office? If not, then I think using it as a comparative number and a trending indicator is still completely valid. Complaining about the formula and tying said complaint specifically to the administration, as you did in the title, seems disingenuous. A title such as, "Unemployment Rates Haven't Reflected REAL Unemployment For 25 Years", may have been more appropriate.
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John Paterna

5 months ago

If you've listened to President Obama himself, Jesse, he never claimed a miraculous recovery. Your article is are full of half-truths, just like the words ofpoliticians of both parties. We all need to do better than that if we want a truly honest debate about differences; but sadly, it won't happen.
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Paul Anderson

5 months ago

If Obama had only purged the rottenness, things would be better. Slashing hundreds of thousands of federal jobs at the beginning of the recession and raising the interest rates. That's the ticket.
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Liz Thatcher

5 months ago

Obama's economy could technically be considered a "war on women"... Single women have had a higher rate of unemployment than men during this recession.
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Cory Suter

5 months ago

While publishing political spin may generate a lot of comments on policymic, I'm confident that doing one's own investigative journalism will generate more traffic to our site - raising one's visibility as a public commentator. While Jesse's closing line was innovative, his argument that the Obama administration is not living up to it's aspirations for transparency lacks merit. The White House is following generally accepted Economics standards
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Mark Kogan

5 months ago

Twenty-five straight months of job growth is a lot better than losses. Yelling about the fact that it's bad and not fast enough doesn't negate the fact that, were it left in the hands of the previous administration, we'd be even further in the tank. What, pray tell, is the Ryan budget's plan for dropping the unemployment numbers? Romney's? Santorum's? Throwing stones is easy. I'd love to see a competing point of view that is supported by more than ideological assertions and mathematically and economically unsupported assumptions. Until then, kicking and screaming about the administration reporting the same numbers it

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has for 20 years comes off as silly. https://s3.amazonaws.com/obama.3cdn.net/1e12950cf2ee5d6121_bim6bxp65.jpg

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James Street

5 months ago

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts The REAL percentage of unemployed workers is closer to 23%. Obviously that number likely includes deadbeats that wouldn't work if they had a chance (catered to by your friendly DNC), but the number is certainly higher than the cooked-books figures handed out by the Obama administration.
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Lawrence Sampson

5 months ago

"We really really really need you to ignore all the good news and be pessimistic. Gloom, despair and agony on you. Nothing is good, everything is bad. It's all Obama's fault." Wash, rinse, repeat.
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Susan Kraykowski

5 months ago

Jesse: I'm listening and responding. Here's what I don't get: Republicans like you have been using the "unemployment isn't getting any better because so many people have left the workforce" line for AT LEAST 6 months now - every time the jobs numbers come out. That cannot be true every single time. It has to be cant from the RNC. PLUS: go back to my article on slithery statistics and remember that the topline number is practically WORTHLESS except as a directional indicator. Is it dripping (I did like that little remark of yours) up a tenth each month or down a tenth? You must dig into the data and look at state levels. I can tell you that NC's economy is rising and unemployment is dropping in very visible ways...they're building things around here! You don't even have to look at the numbers - which do, btw, bear out the anectodal evidence. So, my neoCon friend; be careful where you get your theses from. I wouldn't trust Reince Priebus as far as I could kick him.
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David Gray

5 months ago

The Obama administration is reporting the same number that has been reported since Clinton. To claim that his administration alone is somehow gaming the numbers is disingenuous at best. Yes jobs have been lost and many are not returning to the job force. You know what I say to that? Good! Until recently, many people at retirement age decided to stay on the job instead of retiring. That means less jobs for the younger folks and more for people that should be retiring. Now that the economy is tougher more and more people at or close to retirement are retiring. That is fantastic news because it will open up more jobs for younger workers. Something similar happened in the 30s. SS was designed to get older people off the job and free up work.
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Rachel Muntz

5 months ago

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Can you really consider into the numbers the people who aren't looking for jobs? That could be for various reasons, right? Yes, they're unemployed, but they're not part of the unemployment percentage because they're not trying to find a job. They're not competing. As a side note, going "behind liberal lines" doesn't mean you have to jut completely to the other side either. Neither forms of journalism are admirable or accurate.
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Thomas Repetti

5 months ago

Personally I have little reason to disagree that the economic environment isn't as good as its portrayed, but then again I think its been quite some time since it has been. The US economy is roughly the same size it was in 1999 as it was in 2009. Why? Didn't the last administration go great lengths to deregulate the markets and cut taxes? So where did it go? OH that's right, because we put the foxes in charge of the chicken coop...

Chris Geary

5 months ago

What was the "real" unemployment under Bush too? Why are we using Government estimates under Bush but claiming Obama's are "not" accurate? Also people like this author would like to forget we just went through one of the worst recessions ever thus higher unemployment than in boom years
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Jeanne Vickery

5 months ago

Jesse, we often disagree on numerous things. Our economy remains fragile, on this we agree. Additional sources highlighting the concerns High Unemployment may dog the US for years via msn/Reuters - http://tinyurl.com /82honlr US hiring slows amid uncertainty about economy via AP - http://tinyurl.com/7hrh7tz Employment Increase in U.S. Trails Most-Pessimistic Forecasts via Bloomberg http://tinyurl.com/7rm94lw Christine Legarde's comments on the Global Economic Outlook via C-Span - Concerning jobs - "There is no magic bullet, no magic stick" http://tinyurl.com/6ljvjdd I realize some don't appreciate Legarde's insights. None the less, I do ask that you take a moment to watch the c-span video.
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Georgi Ivanov

5 months ago

Despite the 4,6% unemployment rate under Bush, it was at the tail end of a vast economic balloon that was created and inflated over 40 years by Republicans and Democrats. Whether its red or blue in power, it ultimately makes no difference, if somebody doesn't commit political suicide for the long-term viability of the country.
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Nolan Kraszkiewicz

5 months ago

Great fair and balanced reporting! Effectively regurgitating the crap from Fox News. Way to do some great, original research. The other lemmings must be so proud...

Matthew Puckett

5 months ago

I understand your article is about painting as bleak a picture as possible. I include GB2 as nothing more than a barometer of progress. The past 18 months straight have seen positive jobs growth, at an avg. of 163,000/month.

JOBS +/Last 12 months of Bush II -372,000/month First 12 months of Obama -356,000/month Next 12 months +98,000/month Next 12 months +167,000/month From the B. of Labor Statistics bls.gov/web/empsit/ceshighlights.pdf
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Jed Chancey

5 months ago

All government economic stats are manipulated. A good source for accurate economic statistics is Shadowstats. To blame this on Obama is somewhat misleading, both parties have supported the Keynesian nonsense that caused the economy to falter. Americas economic problems are systemic and long-term, no one party has caused them and no "change" in November will make any difference unless by some miracle Ron Paul is elected. Even then I doubt he could prevent the collapse, maybe just shorten its length. Fiat money systems are inherently unsustainable and always come to a bad end, this time will be no different. Currency collapse in Europe, Japan, and the US is inevitable.
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