John Lott sheds some light on the truth behind unemployment numbers. I know the current administration is doing a fair bit of chest thumping, claiming that they’re somehow responsible for getting us out of the “Bush” recession, but things aren’t always as they seem.
he announcement today that the unemployment rate declined slightlyto 9.4 percent in July while only 247,000 additional jobs were lost hasbeen greeted as good news. The change in the unemployment rate putsthe rate at what it was in May. Yet, even a rough look at the numbersindicates that the true unemployment rate has been gettingsignificantly worse over the last few months.
How is it possible for the unemployment rate to essentially remainunchanged when 247,000 jobs have been lost? The reason is simple –the number of people who stopped looking for work rosedramatically. Six hundred thirty-seven thousand additional people nolonger consider themselves looking for work. This is by far the largestdrop in the number of people who consider themselves in the labor forceduring the last year. – It is almost twice the 358,000 increase in thepeople who left the labor force during June and almost four times theaverage monthly increase of 167,333 over the last year. Jobs aresufficiently scarce and the prospects of people finding them at wagesthat they are willing to work for so low that many individuals don’tthink that it is worth their time to even look for a job.
Part of the drop in unemployment is also due to the fact that somepeople are running out of unemployment benefits and taking part-timejobs. There is usually a big increase in the rate that people findjobs during the last few weeks that they have unemploymentbenefits. In July 102,670 people saw their unemployment benefits runout. That number rose to 141,538 in August and is expected to soar to486,049 in September. It will keep on rising each month hitting 1.5million in just December alone. This past Sunday on ABC’s “This Week”Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner only promised “to look very carefullyat [these lost benefits] as we get closer to the end of this year.”Larry Summers, President Obama’s chief economic advisor, was similarlynoncommittal when he was interviewed that same day on CBS’s “Face theNation.”
This just shows you that statistics can be manipulated, and politicians will take any opportunity to tout their accomplishments, even if those “accomplishments” are a smoke screen.
Meanwhile, I’m a single parent making what used to be called a good living who has two kids and who will be struggling if the destructive economic policies the politicians want to foist upon us come to fruition.
Why? Because I insist on working my way to success. Because I want to achieve. Because I am self-reliant and refuse to accept the word “can’t.” And because I will be successful in my career, I will be penalized with higher taxes.
And not one Obama supporter finds anything wrong with punishing achievement.
I just don’t get it.
