Art of the spin, unemployment-rate style

Las Vegas Sun ^ | November 22, 2009 | By David McGrath Schwartz

[Oldeconomybuyer]

CARSON CITY — No sooner were the latest unemployment numbers released Friday morning than politicians offered their takes, illustrating that no fact will go un-spun this campaign season.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a statement declared the drop in statewide unemployment from 13.3 percent to 13 percent a “positive development and further evidence that Nevada is starting down the economic road to recovery.”

Jeremy Aguero, principal of the financial firm Applied Analysis, said the “condition is effectively unchanged between September and October.” A muted response was appropriate, he said.

“The unemployment drop isn’t because we’ve created jobs,” he said. “The principal reason is that 21,000 people stopped looking for work.”

Bill Anderson, chief economist of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, wrote a synopsis to accompany the numbers released Friday. He called the unemployment drop “welcome news; however it is not a reason to be overly optimistic.”

He continued: “We expect the unemployment rate to continue to climb over time, but we are seeing some signs of stabilization.”

[crescen7]

One good start would be to start quoting "total jobs" - rather than "unemployment rate". Even the Jobs/Population ratio is a better indicator of growth than the always bogus "unemployment rate."

[1776 Reborn]

Excellent point.

[Shady]

The facts don’t lie, politicians with a vested interest in destroying America DO!