All unemployment extensions expire around Jan 14th 2013.
I have a hunch those who have already expired are being counted as working (whether they got a job or not)
And perhaps those about to expire jump on a short-term, part time job (perhaps dressed as a pirate on the street corner near a Halloween Store).
Others probably got a part time job which opened only during the holiday season.
The USPS did a BIG hiring spree for the holidays as well. The did a mass mailing of post cards announcing that. But again, short term jobs that last until jan.
Miscounting the expired unemployment extensions of January 2013 would probably be enough to tweak these numbers down to 7.8%.
However, EVERY Christmas Kohls and Macys and other retailers hire seasonal help.
IF people want to make the claim that seasonal retail work makes the difference this year in getting the number down to 7.8% then how do you explain why seasonal retail work did not bring the unemployment numbers down to 7.8% last year?
What I’m saying is that obviously since those Christmas jobs did not bring the unemployment figures down to 7.8% last year or the year before that then they can’t be the reason the unemployment number came down to 7.8% this year (election year) either.
I do not believe there are enough of these Christmas retail jobs to bring the numbers down from 8.2% last month to 7.8% this month.