The sock-puppet media is all agog over the Department of Propaganda report of the lowest unemployment figure in the last 3 years (8.3%). And that is true. The unemployment rate has fallen to 8.3%. I should be happy, right?
Yeah, no. Dig a little deeper.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has some interesting data available. Apparently, the current regime isn't smart enough to tell BLS to make the stats consistent.
- The number of people older than 16 not in the workforce is 88 million, up from the December number of 87 million and the greatest number since well before 2002.
- The number of people older than 16 not in the workforce and wanting a job now is 6.5 million, up from the December number of 6.1 million and the greatest number since August 2011.
- The number of discouraged workers is just over 1 million, an increase over December and the largest number since November and consistent with 2011.
Conclusions? The regime isn't lying, really. They just aren't telling the entire story. Yes, unemployment is down, but the number of jobs created are not enough to keep up with new people coming into the workforce and to bring "discouraged workers" back in. Remember that unemployment only counts those who are getting unemployment benefits, so new workers and discouraged workers are not counted.
It ain't rosy and I don't see it getting there soon.
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