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Not a Good Jobs Report on Good Friday

By: Brad Jackson (Diary)  |  April 6th, 2012 at 04:00 AM  | 

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech discuss the March jobs report, how Republicans need to talk to voters about the economy and how hard hit men have been in this economic downturn.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

US Adds 120,000 Jobs; Unemployment Falls to 8.2%
Disaster: Jobs Report Misses Expectations at 120K
Graph: Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate – Men

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COMMENTS

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  • johnt

    nothing a massage & little happy words can’t improve.
    Wait until August & September, miracles can be made to happen, or seem to happen.

  • independentmike

    Another thing to keep in mind about the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) March jobs report is that, according to the report itself, it does *not* include 2.4 million unemployed people because those people did not look for worth in the 4 weeks prior to the report. I quote from the BLS report–pay particular attention to the last sentence in the paragraph:

    “In March, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor
    force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not
    seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force,
    wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.” (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm)

    So the unemployment number of 12.7 million does *not* include 2.4 million other unemployed because those persons “had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.”

    Of course, when we add those 2.4 million jobless people, we get a total unemployment number of 15.1 million, not 12.7 million.

  • rbdwiggins

    There’s no legitimate way for the Obama Administration to put a positive spin on this…

    Especially when one considers that 120K jobs/month is less than half of the 275K jobs/month required to beak even.

    labor force

    The number of Americans deemed not in the labor force is at record highs: 87,897,000. (St. Louis Fed)

    • YnotNOW

      And that is all that the MSM spinmeisters need. They will admit that “it was not as good as economists had hoped” but will be able to insist “it shows a continuing decline in unemployment rates.”

      Not that I am hoping for bad news. I just wish I could compare what IS happening with what COULD be happening in the recovery, if the government weren’t holding the economy back. There is no way to compare a hypothetical. (sigh)

      • jakeofalltrades

        … and let me just tell you, investors are not reacting well to these numbers. Just wait until the markets open again – you’ll see.

        • YnotNOW

          how weak the numbers are. But the non-political public will be swayed by the one headline number – the official unemployment rate. That is the only number that many people know.

          Similar to gas prices. Even though the price at the pump is not totally within the President’s control, it becomes the signal that people realize the things he has been doing wrong that are adding up.

          Sound bite politics is not the best way to govern, but you have to acknowledge the reality of perceptions.

  • annas

    Things are already happening. Gallup says his approval is up to 50% and the “improving economy” is helping him! It is so discouraging one wonders if we have a chance at all in November!