(CNSNews.com) – The percentage of American civilians 16 or older who do not have a job and are not actively seeking one remained at a 36-year high in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In December, April, and now May, the labor force participation rate has been 62.8 percent. That means that 37.2 percent were not participating in the labor force during those months.
Before December, the last time the labor force participation rate sunk as low as 62.8 percent was February 1978, when it was also 62.8 percent. At that time, Jimmy Carter was president.
In April, the number of those not in the labor force hit a record high of 92,018,000. In May, that number declined by 9,000 to 92,009,000. Yet, the participation rate remained the same from April to May at 62.8 percent.
The labor force, according to BLS, is that part of the civilian noninstitutional population that either has a job or has actively sought one in the last four weeks. The civilian noninstitutional population consists of people 16 or older, who are not on active duty in the military or in an institution such as a prison, nursing home, or mental hospital.
I have been unemployed since 2005. I tried sucking it up and going to work for a trucking company as an OTR driver; only to have that chance snatched out from under me. (I already had a CDL-A, since 2003 — but lacked experience…) Finally, here as of recent; I bit the bullet and signed up for Michigan’s expanded Medicaid program. So, I am covered on healthcare. Thank God for Government Snyder for looking out for people like me.
So, I know the feeling, I’ve been there; in fact, I’m there now! 🙁
Private sector employment increased by 191,000 jobs from February to March according to the March ADP National Employment Report®. Broadly distributed to the public each month, free of charge, the ADP National Employment Report is produced by ADP®, a leading global provider of Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis. …
Goods-producing employment rose by 28,000 jobs in March, slightly faster than an upwardly revised pace of 25,000 in February. Most of the gains came from the construction industry which added 20,000 jobs over the month; compared to an average of 16,000 during the prior three months. Manufacturers added 5,000 jobs in March, the same as February.
Service-providing employment rose by 164,000 jobs in March, up from the upwardly revised 153,000 in February. The ADP National Employment Report indicates that professional/ business services contributed the most to growth in service-providing industries, adding 53,000 jobs, slightly more than the 49,000 in February. Expansion in trade/transportation/utilities grew by 36,000, about equal to the 37,000 jobs added in February. The 5,000 new jobs in financial activities mark the strongest pace of growth in the industry since November 2013.
“The 191,000 U.S. private sector jobs added in March is slightly above the twelve-month average,” said Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP. “Hopefully, this could be a sign there is more growth to come.”
The job market is slowly perking up after a winter lull.
Private sector employers added 191,000 jobs in March, according to payroll processing firm ADP (ADP, Fortune 500). While it was the strongest job growth in three months, it’s not much to write home about.
After a slowdown in hiring, job growth is merely back to where it was prior to the winter. …
The report was slightly disappointing to other economists, who had anticipated an even bigger bounce back after the weak winter. Those surveyed by Briefing.com expected the report to show companies added 215,000 jobs in March.
Even 215,000 would not be cause for breaking open the bubbly. These are stagnation numbers, not any indication of explosive growth. The US economy needs to add 150,000 jobs each month just to keep pace with population growth at current workforce-participation levels (which are at generational lows anyway). Adding 191,000 barely puts a dent in the unemployment crisis, and it’s doubtful that the final BLS number will be even that high.
For the last five years, the media has calculated their reaction to these numbers by comparing it to their low expectations. No one’s talking about the kind of growth that’s needed to put the millions sidelined in the stagnant economy back to work. That doesn’t make the problem go away, however, and it won’t until we put pro-growth policies in place in the tax and regulatory spheres that unlock capital and create work.
Which brings me to my question about this piece of Government paid propaganda so-called “Report.” Does this report take into the people, like myself; who are long-term unemployed? I very might highly doubt that. I believe if the Government actually stopped hiring people to produce propaganda like this and started actually counting the ENTIRE number of people unemployed; the number that would come up, would most like send the stock market in an utter panic and there would be a massive crash. You think things are bad now? You let that happen and things are going to get really bad.
Ed’s right though, about the pro-growth polices; now, the Democrats method of dealing with an economic downturn, of their own creating, is to tax the very people who create the jobs. It is an idiotic method of crisis management. Some would argue that it is the very thing that the socialists want; cut the number of people actually working, to have a society dependant on Government.
The problem with that simple-minded utopian vision is that sooner or later, the bank runs dry and the system itself crashes. It happened in Greece, it happened in ancient Rome and sooner or later; it will happen in America — sooner or later. This is, of course, if we Americans wake up out of our lazy stupor and actually elect people who will uphold the intent of our founding fathers.
This is not a terribly big shock to me; just look who is in the White House. This administration and Government is rife with corruption. I believe if this Government released the true numbers of unemployment in this Country; this stock market would crash and there would be a run on the banks of epic proportions.
The Story:
In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply — raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington.
The decline — from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September — might not have been all it seemed. The numbers, according to a reliable source, were manipulated.
And the Census Bureau, which does the unemployment survey, knew it.
Just two years before the presidential election, the Census Bureau had caught an employee fabricating data that went into the unemployment report, which is one of the most closely watched measures of the economy.
And a knowledgeable source says the deception went beyond that one employee — that it escalated at the time President Obama was seeking reelection in 2012 and continues today.
“He’s not the only one,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous for now but is willing to talk with the Labor Department and Congress if asked.
The Census employee caught faking the results is Julius Buckmon, according to confidential Census documents obtained by The Post. Buckmon told me in an interview this past weekend that he was told to make up information by higher-ups at Census.
Ironically, it was Labor’s demanding standards that left the door open to manipulation.
Labor requires Census to achieve a 90 percent success rate on its interviews — meaning it needed to reach 9 out of 10 households targeted and report back on their jobs status.
Census currently has six regions from which surveys are conducted. The New York and Philadelphia regions, I’m told, had been coming up short of the 90 percent.
This is an exclusive scoop right here on Thinking Americanist. You will not read this anywhere else, and I am giving this scoop, because I believe people have a right to know.
I was at the union hall today with my Father, today was the retirees meeting and I received some information from someone who is very much in the know of what is going on internally with the UAW and it’s goings on.
Basically, what my source told me is this: The UAW is gearing up for a major protracted battle with the big three when it comes to contracts and benefits for the active and retirees with GM and the other two major automakers. Basically, it boils down to this here; as we all know the big three went through some financial hardships a few years ago. Well, now the hardships are over and the big three are now selling vehicles again and doing rather well for themselves.
What is happening is this here; every time the UAW approaches the big three and asks them about restoring the previous benefits, they are giving the attitude of, “You guys ought to be glad we are still in business and did not just file for bankruptcy and cut you all out of the loop.” Well, needless to say, that is not going to work for the UAW and its members.
So, as you can very well imagine the UAW is gearing up for a majorly huge battle for better contracts and the restoring of the former benefits and they are also going to push for all these new workers to get wages on par with the workers who have been there for years. The stuff I heard was that the UAW is prepared to walk out and strike to get what they want and they are not afraid to make it a long-term thing either.
I will refrain from my normal commentary on stuff like this; because quite simply; I just want to give you all the facts of what I heard.
However, I do have an open message to the UAW: I hope you all know that what it is that you are doing; and please, whatever you do, do not do what the union that represented Hostess employees did. That was nothing more than unmitigated foolishness. My Father worked for General Motors for 31 years, and for him to lose his pension over something, like a union’s obstante stupidity is inexcusable. Please, choose wisely.
(LANSING, Mich.) — Unemployment went up in all of Michigan’s major labor markets, including in the Detroit area, but officials say this is nothing unusual. The Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget released a report on Thursday stating that in December the unemployment rate for the Detroit-Warren-Livonia market stood at 10.2 percent, up from 9.7 percent in November. Overall, Michigan’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.9 percent from November to December. —- Detroit Unemployment Rate Increases In Dec. 2013, Joblessness Steady Across Michigan
I have been unemployed since 2005. Nothing unusual my ass! I have to ask our lying piece of crap Governor. Where are the jobs? I voted for you, and then you turned around and lied to every Independent voter and passed “right to starve.” So, Governor? Where are the jobs? 🙄
There aren’t any jobs, at least nothing that I am qualified for, that is. 😡 I thought this new Governor was going to bring in the jobs, I guess I was lied to, just liker Obama lied to the Democrats, this joker lied to us here in Michigan too. Never trust Democrats or Republicans; ever. They lie too much.
ALTA LOMA (CBS) — A case of campaign vandalism is under investigation Friday in Alta Loma. Someone keyed the word “Obama” into two cars and slashed seats in another outside a residence that had Mitt Romney campaign signs. CBS2 and KCAL9 reporter Rob Schmitt spoke to Ken Slown, owner of one of the keyed vehicles. Slown actually supports President Obama! He explained to Schmitt that he and his wife — both currently unemployed — are staying with her parents and it’s her parents who support Romney. “I don’t know if they were trying to get a point across, to vote for Obama,” said Slown, “but to do something like this is not going to get the point across.” He estimates the damage to both of his vehicles at about $3,400. In addition to both cars being keyed, his wife’s vehicle had her seats slashed, as well. Said Slown, “They pretty much cut the backs of all of the seats.” A neighbor, who also has a Romney/Ryan sign in their front yard, were also hit. “Obama” keyed in the hood and on the black gate of an SUV. A GPS unit was stolen from a Dodge Ram nearby. The truck, however, was not vandalized.
I reported this sort of stuff happening back in 2008, on my old blog; it happened then, and now it is happening again. These thugs will stop at nothing to support thier hero and that includes beating people up. They know no limits, nothing is off-limits; we must remember this come election day and vote different.
This also might explain why Romney is now leading Obama Nationally and in most states. Because of stuff like this. Here is hoping that now Ken Slown will support Romney, seeing that Obama’s Brownshirts targeted his car. It is an absolute pity that the once honorable Democratic Party, has become the communist-light party and has stooped to carrying out such tactics.
This video is quite damning to the President. In last night’s debate, President Obama basically said that he was not going to fight for so-called “Low Skill” jobs. Here is a newsflash for the President; a good part of Michigan is filled with people who would work these “low-skill” so-called “low-income” jobs. Not everyone in America has the skills or the ability to get the skills to work those high-tech jobs. There are people, like me; who have disabilities, like A.D.H.D. which affect their ability to do math very well and because of this, we are unable to get a high school diploma.
This video is damning for a number of reasons; first, when he said, “Some jobs are not coming back.” It makes the President sound as if he really does not give care about those who cannot get, because of lack of education; one of these sort of jobs. Those who are on the far-right would say that basically the President wants these people to be on the Government dole. Furthermore, it also makes the President sound like he is basically saying that he is not going to fight to bring general labor jobs back to the United States; and with as many people as we have that are out of work, some of which do take those “low-wage” and “low-skill” jobs — that just sounds very bad.
You can try and spin this and try to wrap it up into a contextual argument or even try to say that the President is being realistic. But, as far as this voter is concerned, Obama just threw in the towel for the average, everyday, unemployed, general laborer. Something that I have been for a good part of my life. Which is why I plan to vote for Mitt Romney in November. Romney might not be perfect, but, he knows what makes this economy work and that there people who do not have degrees, like me; who simply need a 40 hour a week or more job. The only workers that President Obama cares about, are the Unionized workers at the big three, something my Father was, he also wants to tax their pensions as well, something my Father is not happy about too.
But for the non-unionized workers, like me. President Obama simply does not care; Obama would rather focus on the high tech jobs, because those people would be more inclined to vote for him. This is the difference between President Obama, and Governor Mitt Romney — Governor Romney knows that it takes ALL kinds of workers and getting those workers back to work is what he wants to carry out.
Here is Mitt Romney’s message to the middle class: (Via HotAir.com)
Most of the people that come here and read, know that I have been unemployed now for 8 years. Some of that, is my fault; a career change that did not work out like I planned it. But the majority of it is due to the piss poor economy in Michigan. The President has helped take care of my Father and seen to it, that his pension is preserved and that he will get everything that he needs — for this I am very grateful. My question to the President and to the Democrats, as an American, is this: What has President Obama done for people, like me? What has President Obama done for people, who do not have the unions standing in their corner? What has the President done for those who are “low-skill” workers, who are not minorities?
The truth is, The President has done nothing and will do absolutely nothing for us. Which is why, if you are a general laborer and you are voting for President Obama again; you are a fool. Trust me, as the above video shows, President Obama does not give a remote damn about we, who use our backs and our bodies to work. This is because he never had to do it, ever.
I close on this note here: I realize that many working class folk might not like Romney. He is far from perfect, I know what Bush did; and I cannot change that — But, I believe that with Romney it will be much different. So, I ask you, as Americans:
Great and wonderful news, right? Wrong. Just another bogus headline from a company that is about ready for bankruptcy. This story comes via MLive.com.
General Motors Co. and the state are expected to announce today that GM will create 2,000 new jobs in Michigan, beginning with up to 1,500 at a new information technology innovation center in Warren.
The automaker and the Governor’s Office are expected to make formal announcements later today.
It’s unclear where GM would add the other 500 jobs, but the state says the innovation center is the first of three projects the company will announce.
GM will invest $300 million combined for the three. The state said GM plans no major investment spending on the information technology center; it will be housed in an existing building undergoing renovation on the Warren Tech Center campus.
The center will hire 1,500 new employees within four years and will add to information technology employment already in Warren, Randy Mott, GM’s vice president of information technology and chief information officer, said in a Friday interview.
This is where I am going to get accused of sounding like a Democrat or something worse.
This headline is the biggest stinking joke, since the election Barack Obama. These jobs above here? There are not jobs that anyone could do, you know, like me? These jobs are one that would need some serious degrees —- none of which I honestly have at all. So, these are not 2000 jobs for the public, like labor jobs; as the labor jobs are protected by the unions. These are tech jobs that will end up being filled by immigrants, legal or otherwise from foreign countries; who have the degrees to get these jobs. The rest will go to protected minorities, who happen to have those degrees as well.
I just have to ask aloud; how much of this investment, came from the taxpayers dollars that ended up bailing out this failed business? I really do not know if I really want to know the answer to that or not. However, what I will say is this here; the local Detroit media needs to stop with the dishonest headlines and get out of tank for the big three. I mean, do not get me wrong, I want to see General Motor succeed, as their success personally affects my family, namely my Father, who retired from that company after 31 years. But, when I see dishonest headlines like this, it disgusts me. People scanning through, think GM is mass hiring workers for the plants. Which they are not, they are hiring salaried employees, that they really do not need and doing this, will most likely make them go broke again.
It is time, that the local Detroit media started telling the complete truth about the big three.
It seems that in Ohio, there has been a decline in voter registration, especially in Democratic Party strongholds. This is also signaling a national trend. Here is the Story and Video via Fox News Channel:
The Video:
The Story:
“Don’t boo, vote,” President Obama often says in his stump speech whenever crowds boo a Romney plan.
The off-hand call to vote may be by design. It comes amid a precipitous decline in Democratic voter registration in key swing states — nowhere more apparent than in Ohio.
Voter registration in the Buckeye State is down by 490,000 people from four years ago. Of that reduction, 44 percent is in Cleveland and surrounding Cuyahoga County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one.
“I think what we’re seeing is a lot of spin and hype on the part of the Obama campaign to try to make it appear that they’re going to cruise to victory in Ohio,” Cuyahoga County Republican Chairman Rob Frost said. “It’s not just Cuyahoga County. Nearly 350,000 of those voters are the decrease in the rolls in the three largest counties, Cuyahoga, Hamilton and Franklin.”
Frost points out that those three counties all contain urban centers, where the largest Democrat vote traditionally has been.
Ohio is not alone. An August study by the left-leaning think tank Third Way showed that the Democratic voter registration decline in eight key swing states outnumbered the Republican decline by a 10-to-one ratio. In Florida, Democratic registration is down 4.9 percent, in Iowa down 9.5 percent. And in New Hampshire, it’s down down 19.7 percent.
“It’s understandable that enthusiasm is going to wane a little bit from that historic moment (in 2008),” says Michelle Diggles, the study co-author and senior policy adviser for Third Way. “You can only elect the first African-American president of this country once.
Of course, there are other reasons why people are just not happy anymore with the Democrats:
One Democratic Party consultant told Fox News that independents in Ohio may be leaning Democratic – an effect that may be tied to the bailout of Chrysler and GM. One of eight people in Ohio work in businesses directly tied to the auto industry. The state has been carpeted with Obama ads that point to his bailout of the industry and it’s managed bankruptcy.
I do not mean to toot my own horn; but in this case, I must. I predicted that stuff like this would happen on my old blog. When the bailouts happened, and when the healthcare bill was pushed through. The truth is Independents are simply running away from Obama. Another thing too that this report did not cover; is that some Democrats are simply not happy with the Obama Administration. This is for a number for reasons: The continuation of Bush’s polices on the war on terror and the war is one. The failure to close the prisons in Gitmo is another. The continuing of the war in Afghanistan is another. Also too, Ohio is also a union State and when Obama’s chief of staff at the time, said “F*** the big three!”, many in Ohio heard about that too. This all makes for a unpopular President.
Also too; the economy in Ohio, here in Michigan; and nationally, just plain sucks. There are many small businesses in Ohio, many of whom are faithful Democrats; and they are just looking at their bottom lines and are looking at this President and wondering, “What on earth are they doing to us?” To be fair, it is not all of Obama’s fault. The Federal Reserve with it’s QE1, QE2 and now QE3 is not helping the situation at all. When the fed prints more money, inflation happens, which drives the prices of everything up and this, in turn, hurts businesses. Which, in turn, hurts the economy. Bill Clinton learned this lesson early on, and made adjustments. Jimmy Carter and this President, did not. For that, they are paying a price at the polls.
I should also mention that this current foreign policy debacle in Libya, and Egypt and the rest of the Arab World is also weighing heavy on the minds of people as well. As it was in 1979, with the Iran hostage crisis. Now, Iran is being a problem again. Which is very ironic.
History has such a strange way of repeating itself.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The Federal Reserve announced plans to unleash more stimulus Thursday, in its third attempt at a controversial program to rev up the U.S. economy.
The policy, known as quantitative easing and often abbreviated as QE3, entails buying $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month. The end date remains up in the air, as the Fed will re-evaluate the strength of the economy in coming months.
The Fed is wasting no time. The purchases begin Friday and are expected to add up to only $23 billion for the remainder of September. The bond-buying policy “should put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative,” the Fed’s official statement said.
Meanwhile, the Fed will continue its existing policy known as Operation Twist. Together the two programs will add $85 billion in long-term bonds to the Fed’s balance sheet each month.
Now what effect will this have on our money supply?
Even less saving going on than is happening now. Why do the lending institutions need more liquidity? Because there are no real life loanable funds in the first place. No one is putting money in depository institutions, for example, because interest rates are at rock-bottom levels, but also because people have no excess money to save. So, the Fed is creating fake loanable funds through the purchase of the MBSs. Much of this will probably be newly-created money.
It will maintain the focus on consumer spending rather than investment. The idea is to keep people spending on real estate. Thus, less will be spent on business investment.
People will incur more debt.
We’ve heard for years from some incorrigible economists that what we need is the Fed to pump up the real estate market to get people spending again. Their answer is: more debt, more spending, less savings and investment.
This is what has been happening for years to no avail, of course, and the Fed is now just turning it up a notch. I’m sure recovery is right around the corner.
The definition of insanity/Keynesianism: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
A-farking-men. This is what happens, when you elect the same very idiots, who screwed the housing markets squarely into the ground. People that voted for this sort of Government, get exactly what is coming to them and the sort of Government that they voted for. Who the heck ever heard of printing money, that you do not even have to print? It is the textbook case of utter insanity.
I will say this; if Mitt Romney loses this election and the way recent events have turned out, he just might lose —- and this Nation goes into the crapper, because Conservatives and the Republican Party decided to pick a safe candidate. Then the Republican Party should be shut down for good and a new Conservative Party formed. Others have said it, I know and they are absolutely correct.
This stuff right here is the very reason why I hung it up with the Democratic Party and stopped voting for them and supporting them. I am not a millionaire or even someone with any sort of money at all. Hell, I have been unemployed for 8 damned years. However, I do know stupidity, when it see it; and it is on full display here. Only insane people would do stuff like this, and try to rev up the economy. The solution is to let the free-market work and do its job, not stick a statist finger in it.
Also too; as much as I am not a big fan of weaving ads into my blog postings. I believe this one is important. This would be a good time as any to get into Gold, Silver and other metals. I deal with two companies that sell the stuff. Their banners are below and they both come highly recommended.
They are:
and…:
Current Prices:
It would be absoutely insane not to get into at least some sort of Gold or other precious metal investment.
