Why unemployment rate fell: Fewer people seek jobs

Yahoo News ^ | September 9, 2012 | CHRISTOPHER S RUGABER

[detective]

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added 96,000 jobs in August, a tepid figure that points to the economy's persistent weakness and slowing prospects for the unemployed.

The unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent in July. But that was only because more people gave up looking for jobs. People out of work are counted as unemployed only if they're looking for a job.

The sluggish job growth could slow the momentum President Barack Obama hoped to gain from his speech Thursday night to the Democratic National Convention.

[detective]

This is the stupidest article I have read in a while. It said unemployment rate is dropping because people don't want jobs. The real unemployment rate is close to 20%. There are less jobs then there were in 2008. Previous month job statistics keep getting revised downward. Many new "jobs" measured by the DLS are fictional. They are derived from the "birth death" computer model assumptions.

People don't want to lose their homes, go bankrupt etc. People want jobs. This is just more lies.

[dfwgator]

Of course, higher unemployment may benefit the Rats, because of fears of Republicans reducing unemployment benefits.

[jonrick46]

The numbers would be worse if they considered the kids leaving their jobs and going to college.

[whitedog57]

Fewer people were in the labor force. At the same time, disability and food stamps have risen dramatically since June 2010.

http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/economy-adds-only-96000-workers-people-going-on-disability-greater-than-decline-in-unemployment-since-june-2010/

[Terry Mross]

It dropped from 8.3 to 8.1! We’re on the right track! /sarc

[The Antiyuppie]

“It dropped from 8.3 to 8.1! We’re on the right track! /sarc”

So, if absolutely no people actually looked for a “real” job,because there weren’t any “real” jobs, would that make the number 0%? Sounds like...the USSR!

[ez]

I get it. People without jobs aren’t unemployed if they’re not looking. Right...

[detective]

The people who compile these statistic have no possible way of knowing whether the 90 million Americans “outside the labor force” are looking for a job or not. The government bureaucrats who put together these statistics make assumptions and use those assumptions to calculate an official number. The real unemployment level is close to 20%. The fictional published number is between 8% and 9%.

[newzjunkey]

It’s not the article that’s the problem; it’s the gov’t. I’m actually hearing the story correctly reported - the rate being down because more people gave up.

[detective]

“It’s not the article that’s the problem; it’s the gov’t”

The article is the problem because it reports the government fiction that people no longer want jobs as fact. People don't want to lose their homes their savings etc. They want a productive good paying job.

The government is trying to dishonestly report the unemployment rate as artificially low. The real unemployment rate is close to 20%. The government falsely reports it as between 8% and 9%. If asked how the unemployment rate can be so low when there are so few jobs the government says that people no longer want jobs.