By David Glenn Cox

A crude roadside 'jobs' sign

Good news? Image: Doug Geisler / Flickr

Oh, heavens be praised! It’s a miracle right out of scripture! The gods of political rhetoric and book keeping have favored us to look upon its countenance. I’ve been reading the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly jobs report, every month, for over two and a half years and I’ve never seen anything even remotely similar to this one.

From the BLS –

The unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage point to 7.8 percent in September. For the first 8 months of the year, the rate held within a narrow range of 8.1 and 8.3 percent. The number of unemployed persons, at 12.1 million, decreased by
456,000 in September.

Why that’s the most amazing thing since, well… ever! Just five weeks before a Presidential election, the economy suddenly takes off like a Shelby Cobra, as the number of unemployed drops by almost a half a million workers in just 30 days! No telling how many jobs were created to make the unemployment rate drop 0.3 percent, it must have been in the hundreds of thousands of new jobs!

From the BLS:

The unemployment rate decreased to 7.8 percent in September, and total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 114,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care and in transportation and warehousing but changed little in most other major industries.

114,000??? But, but, but, the economic created 206,000 new jobs last month, at least, according to the revisions made in last months figures. It can only be explained as the hand of the deity, as the number employed miraculously explodes.

Number employed in July – 142,220,000
Number employed in August – 142,101,000
Number employed in Sept. – 142,974,000

Number unemployed in July – 12,794,000
Number unemployed in August – 12,544,000
Number unemployed in Sept. – 12,088,000

It must be the wondrous action of the deity, like that loaves and fishes thing, all over again. How else could 114,000 new jobs account for 456,000 less unemployed? Obama has employed the multitude, with his basket filled with a few new jobs and fishes.

Well, to start with, the biggest group of job gains went to that most vital sector of our labor force, that’s right, teenagers. Teenagers age (16 to 19) were the biggest job gainers at nine tenths of one percent. On the education front, the largest group of employment gains went to… those without a high school diploma. Their unemployment rate declined 0.7 of a percent; more than double the next largest educational category. From these figures it is clear, this will not only be a jobless recovery, but it will be an uneducated recovery, as well.

The U-6 Unemployment number for this month stands at 14.7 percent, almost exactly where it was in May. U-6, total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force

Below is the explanation for the U-6 number from the BLS:

NOTE: Persons marginally attached to the labor force are those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not currently looking for work. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

Did you say, Part Time? Ding, ding, ding, employed part time for economic reasons –

July – 8,246,000
August – 8,031,000
Sept. – 8,613,000

The future is clear, the future is fun, the United States of America will lead the world into that bright clear dawn of a new day, arm in arm with uneducated teenagers working part time. Why who could argue that a recovery is under way on the strength of these numbers?

Part time due to slack work or business conditions –

July – 5,342,000
August – 5,217,000
Sept. – 5,523,000

Could only find Part time work –

July – 2,576,000
August – 2,507,000
Sept. – 2,572,000

From the employment situation report-

The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks declined by 302,000 over the month to 2.5 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.8 million and accounted for 40.1 percent of the unemployed.

So just where is all this job growth located in the economy? Let’s look at employed and unemployed persons by occupation, not seasonally adjusted, so take for example Management, professional and related occupations. In September 2011, unemployment stood at 4.4 percent, but has now declined to only 3.9 percent unemployment. I know, I hear you, boo hoo, there are no new jobs in management and finance, but that is exactly where you would look for payroll gains. No new management, no new projects on the horizon. With no new management jobs, I’ll bet them boys and girls live in blood terror fear of losing that job, cause, chances are there won’t be another one any time soon.

Transportation and material moving occupations – Unemployed

September 2011 – 10.9%

September 2012 – 9.3%

Employed

September 2011 – 8,239,000

September 2012 – 8,242,000

Looks pretty good doesn’t it? 3,000 new jobs in a single year, only the numbers of those seeking work in that field who can not find work exceeds 870,000. 871,000 people – 3,000 jobs, obviously, if this economy was going anywhere, it would need people to drive the trucks and the forklifts.

Then, Construction –

September unemployment 2011 13.4%

September unemployment 2012 13.2%

Employed

September 2011- 7,316,000

September 2012 – 7,015,000

Unemployed

September 2011 – 1,137,000
September 2012 – 1,071,000

People are leaving the field; there can’t be any kind of recovery if people are leaving the construction field. Temp jobs and part time work, no benefits, where you don’t get paid for the holiday, holiday.

So let us rest our heads on our surrealistic pillows, let us go quietly and methodically looking towards the dawn of that brave new world. The deity be praised, we are in the presence of true greatness, The BLS report spells out in perfect statistic and prolific prose, a lumbering, lagging economy, a sick man losing strength. You can’t sell your gold to that guy on TV forever, you know?

Yet, despite this documents utter starkness and frankness, the report is praised as good news by a trained seal media. The ultimate fascist power- control of the truth; put out some pretty roses and fertilize the shit out of them by burying the truth underneath it all. To bundle truth and lies altogether in one neat and tidy one size fits all package. The truth is what ever you want it to be, but reality hides behind it. I guess it is all where you are sitting, whether you see truth or reality.