Unemployment Fell in August, But Drop Is Called Insignificant (2002 Article)

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/07/business/unemployment-fell-in-august-but-drop-is-called-insignificant.html?pagewanted=all ^

[MNDude]

The labor market improved slightly last month but offered little hope that the economy would soon emerge from its prolonged weakness.

American employers added 39,000 jobs in August, roughly in line with the modest growth of recent months, the Labor Department reported yesterday, but the entire gain came from the hiring of new airport security guards and other government workers. Companies remain reluctant to hire until economic growth improves.

The unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent last month, from 5.9 percent in July, but economists at the Labor Department and on Wall Street called the decline almost meaningless. The rate, which is based on a smaller survey than the payroll numbers, often jumps around from month to month. Many experts expect the jobless rate to move up at least slightly later this year.

''The drop in the unemployment rate should be ignored,'' said Ian Shepherdson, chief United States economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y. ''Over all, new jobs are still very scarce.''

[MNDude]

here's how the Media reported good news under Bush:

[griswold3]

Good get...

[MissesBush]

LOL, I remember this kind of reporting well. There was always a mitigating factor for any good economic news under Bush, as if airport security jobs mean you’re any less employed than if you were hired for some other job. Funny how the 3.5% GNP rate in the 3rd quarter this year found no press outlet other than the Wall Street Journal looking at the underlying cause, almost all of it coming from mounds of govt. debt. not private sector economic activity. Suddenly the media isn’t so discerning or willing to dig under the surface of economic stats. anymore. 5.7% unemployment in 2002 was “meaningless” to indicating the state of the economy, but somehow 10.2% unemployment now can be brushed off to pop corks over some fanciful economic recovery.

[hoosier hick]

But a drop of 39,000 in jobs lost is a victory for Obama. Makes sense to me.....

hh

[faq]

I was going to send this to Newsbusters for them to reference the next time unemployment numbers are released but their “contact” page does not work. The message says “You cannot send more than 3 messages per hour. Please try again later.”

[6SJ7]

Can you imagine how the MSM would have howled if Pres. Bush had used the phrase "jobs created or saved".

[sportutegrl]

Have you been spamming Newsbusters? ;-)