US jobless rate at 5-year low | Bangkok Post: breakingnews

US jobless rate at 5-year low

Published: 8 Mar 2013 at 21.11
Online news:

The unemployment rate in the United States fell to a five-year low of 7.7% in February, the Bureau of Labour Statistics said on Friday, adding to the upbeat mood surrounding the US economy.

News of the decline in joblessness, from 7.9% in January, was expected to produce a strong finish for stocks for the week on Wall Street, while markets in Europe were also up sharply.

A separate survey of employers found that non-farm payrolls grew by 236,000 last month. Growth was reported in the construction and healthcare sectors.

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nosurprise
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Discussion 5 : 09 Mar 2013 at 08.035
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"The unemployment rate had been stuck at 7.8% or above since September. About half the decline in February occurred because more of the unemployed found jobs. A decline in the number of people looking for work accounted for the other half. People who aren't looking for jobs aren't counted as unemployed."

Unemployment down because unemployed found jobs. Unemployment down because number of people looking for work down.

Can anyone make any sense of this?
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Worzel
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Discussion 4 : 09 Mar 2013 at 06.084
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Disc 1/ Borrocks, You are right, the basis for determining who is unemployed is altered to improve the % For instance the age ceiling is used as well as length of time out of work.
We are living with bubbles within bubbles and eventually they will burst...
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spiceman
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Discussion 3 : 09 Mar 2013 at 05.283
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Drudgereport.com reports today that 89 million Americans are out of labor force, with fewer 296,000 employed since January, which should explain why the latest unemployment number is suspiciously low. They just stop looking for work because there are no work PERIOD. It's Obamanomics, Baby!
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boons
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Discussion 2 : 09 Mar 2013 at 03.402
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D1: Exactly right. And the other problem is that the number of hours per week has diminished, and wages per work-hour has diminished. The US is in a bad recession and it is getting worse, not better. Europe is similarly imploding.

Credit booms will always create troughs of decreased economic activity in their wake. Thailand is currently repeating the failed equation even given this picture perfect example of what not to do.
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borrocks
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Discussion 1 : 08 Mar 2013 at 21.311
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Complete rubbish, the true figures are almost 22% shadowstats show the true figures...7.7% is laughable, there are more than this number that have been pushed off the stats because they have been unemployed more than 1 year and so are no longer included ???
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