Employment growth picks up in October with addition of 171,000 jobs

Today the Government released the October Labor Statistics and we see that employers have added a larger-than-expected 171,000 jobs in October across a broad spectrum of businesses. In this, the  final snapshot of the economy before election day, we have an interesting picture of job growth… more than double what it was in September.

Unfortunately, the nation’s unemployment rate rose to 7.9% from 7.8% in September. This was because more people jumped back into the labor market, including a very large group of 18-year old first time workers. This, of course, is a positive sign that workers may be feeling more confident about their job prospects.

The new Labor Department report, which also revised sharply higher job growth in September and August, may give a boost to President Obama, who continues with a slow but positive economic growth. There is still enough information for the undecided to support Obama who has kept us going even though Mitch McConnell and his Republicans have worked overtime to keep Obama’s Job Creation proposals and other forward moving activities from passing or getting any Congressional support. It’s interesting that Obama has gotten as far as he has… and it is even more interesting how little the Republicans have been concerned with helping to relieve our economy.

Related articles

• US economy adds 171,000 jobs (bigpondnews.com)
• Economy adds 171,000 jobs in October (bostonherald.com)
• US economy adds 171,000 new jobs (bbc.co.uk)
• U.S. Adds 171K Jobs In October: What It Means For Obama And Romney (forbes.com)
• October jobless rate is 7.9 percent: 171,000 jobs created. Good news for Obama (blogs.suntimes.com)
• Job Growth Better Than Expected Last Month (politicalwire.com)
• SPECIAL REPORT: “171 Thousand Jobs Added in Last Jobs Report Before Election, Unemployment Rate 7.9%” (marketsnacks.com)

 

Advertisements

Unemployment rate drops to 7.8%!

 

After listening to Romney accusing the President of not being able to get the unemployment rate below 8.1%, today the newest rate report was released. At 7.8% it’s lowest level since January 2009.

Let’s hear it for the President as the rate came down and jobs, even though just a little (114000 jobs in September), moved up.

Meanwhile, what has Romney done to support his country in helping promote unemployment activity? Why, nothing. Nothing at all.

Related articles

• Unemployment rate drops to 7.8 percent, lowest in four years (wjla.com)
• Unemployment rate falls to 7.8% (abcactionnews.com)
• The death of a talking point (maddowblog.msnbc.com)
• US unemployment rate falls to 7.8 pct. in September (bostonherald.com)
• Unemployment rate below 8%, but Romney says not enough (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
• 114K new jobs, unemployment drops to 7.8% (cbsnews.com)
• Unemployment Rate Drops to 7.8% (politicalwire.com)

 

Jobs for July higher than expected

From McClatchy newspapers:

Stronger-than-expected July jobs number reported by the government Friday eased concerns about an economy slipping back into recession and gave wind to President Barack Obama’s re-election hopes. But economists warned that the road ahead is likely to remain bumpy.

Non-farm payrolls grew by 163,000 jobs in July, according to the Labor Department, which also said the unemployment rate inched up by less than a tenth of a percentage point to 8.3 percent.

The strong report sent stocks soaring for most of Friday’s trading, with the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 220 points in the first hour, closing up 217.29 for the day at 13,096.17.

Mainstream economists had expected about 100,000 new jobs, so Friday’s report was wildly above expectations and more than double the revised 64,000 jobs that were added in June. Most heartening, economists said, was that the gains were spread across all sectors but construction and government hiring.

I find this is very encouraging even though there was a slight increase in unemployment.

Add this information to the number of private jobs gained under Democrats since 1961 and you wonder what Mitt Romney is really going to do about jobs. My guess is nothing!

 

Related articles

• Government report: Employers add more jobs than expected in July (sacbee.com)
• US economy adds 163K jobs, rate rises to 8.3 percent (bostonherald.com)
• Obama, Romney Each Read Jobs Numbers Differently (wnyc.org)
• Jobs added in July, but economists still worried (goerie.com)
• July hiring exceeds expectations, eases worries (bangordailynews.com)
• US economy adds 163K jobs, rate rises to 8.3 pct. (onlineathens.com)

So the economy is turning around…

…says the NY Times:

The United States added 200,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, a robust figure indicating that the economic recovery may finally be building up a head of steam.

The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent in December, from a revised 8.7 percent in November, the government said.

I wonder, will this be discussed by Romney or Santorum or Paul or Gingrich? Only if they can make it seem like a downturn, which it’s not… but, hell, they’ll say it is. That’s been their

Remember what Hoover gave us?

typical response to any of Obama‘s achievements.

This was the sixth month that the economy added at least 100,000 jobs. Not enough, maybe, to get back to pre-recession levels, but, hey, the Republicans stepped on Obama’s jobs bill that would have created considerably more positions Also, if you look at Republican Primary speeches, none of the yoyos are getting ready to create ANY jobs (except for themselves).

So this is the time to get back in the employment lines and push forward… and forget about the right wing campaign to make the 99%
poorer. It’s up to us to help make things better.

Related articles

• GOP Primary Race Takes Ugly Turn (huffingtonpost.com)
• Unemployment rate falls as economy adds 200K jobs (troyrecord.com)
• Romney hits Obama’s economic record despite improving jobs numbers (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
• Unemployment rate falls as economy adds 200K jobs (newsok.com)
• Hiring surges across U.S.; unemployment rate drops to three-year low (mercurynews.com)
• Unemployment rate falls to 8.5 pct., hiring surges (sfgate.com)

Last week to get this special offer…

I need your help to keep Under The LobsterScope going… but I never take your contributions without making it worth your while:

1. I present a blog that keeps you up to date on politics and the arts… and lots of things you don’t find anywhere else…

and

2. For every donation of $5.00 or more I am now offering 2 special fonts – real designer’s treasures which sell for $29.00 each – for your computer design and publishing efforts:
Bill’s Asterisks and Bullets and Bill’s Ampersands (see samples below.)

Neat, hey? From graphic designers to desktop publishers, these two fonts will be in use all the time. So, for a donation of $5.00 or more they are yours. Offer ends on Sunday Oct. 23.

Just go to this PayPal site::
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=LW5LW84KWFGRN”

Friday report from the Labor Dept.: Jobs up higher than expected…

According to Reuters, U.S. job growth accelerated more than expected in July as private employers stepped up hiring, easing fears the economy was sliding into a fresh recession.

It was originally expected that the number of new jobs would b3 85,000… less than the 100,000 minimum necessary to start correcting the unemployment burden. In reality, the new estimate is that the number is 117,000 which brings the unemployment rate from 9.2% to 9.1%.

How much better the situation gets in the next six months is unknown. A stand-off between Democrats and Republicans over raising the country’s debt ceiling poisoned the atmosphere for employers and consumers. Whether this new report helps them to bounce back is questionable.

Austan Goolsbee

Commenting from the White House, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee said:

“While the better than expected report is welcome news, the unemployment rate remains unacceptably high and faster growth is needed to replace the jobs lost in the downturn.” 

Related articles

• Unemployment rate dips, economy adds 117K jobs (boston.com)
• Jobs Report Better Than Expected: Hiring Picked Up in July (themoderatevoice.com)
• An Extremely Giddy Austan Goolsbee Tells Jon Stewart: I Feel Bad Obama Has To Be Around The Folks In Washington (thenewspundit.com)
• Employers add 117,000 jobs in July, unemployment rate drops (usatoday.com)
• Relief: July report shows jobless rate slips (chron.com)
• Jobs Report Better Than Expected (coydavidson.wordpress.com)

“Photo Bombers” bring labor mural back to Maine’s Capitol Building for 2 hours…

A group called BrokeFix in protest of the removal of the Labor Mural from the Maine Capitol in Augusta by the Right Wing Governor did what was called a “Photo Bomb” demonstration to bring the mural back.

Powered by a car battery, they projected the mural on the outside of the Capitol Building for two hours.

Take a look:

The USDoL had put up more than $36,000 to help commission the mural. If it is not put back in actuality, the citizens of Maine will likely have to return the grant money.

Related Articles

• Protesters raise a ruckus at state Capitol building (kitsapsun.com)
• Maine artist hoped labor mural would educate (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Removal of Mural May Cost Maine Taxpayers (politicalwire.com)
• Feds to Maine: Reinstall labor mural or repay funding (via CNN Political Ticker) (richardemanuel.wordpress.com)
• US Labor Dept. steps into Maine mural dispute (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Maine Takes Down Labor Mural (npr.org)

Making Labor Disappear… From Crooks and Liars:

clipped from crooksandliars.com   Maine’s New Teabag Gov Wants to Wipe Out History of the Labor Movement.   Governor Le Page Democrats are the ones who are always taunted by the Republicans for being “politically correct,” but when was the last time you heard of a Democrat doing something so stupid, silly and just plain mean as this? Teabag Gov. LePage is so incredibly tone deaf to the mainstream, I’ll be surprised if he makes it through an entire term without a recall movement:   Once again, Republicans are trying to erase the history of America’s working people. In Maine, Republican Gov. Paul LePage has ordered the removal of a 36-foot mural depicting the state’s labor history from the Department of Labor. The11-panel piece in part depicts a 1986 paper mill strike and “Rosie the Riveter” at Bath Iron Works. Judy Taylor, an artist based on Mount Desert, won a 2007 competition to create the mural to depict the “History of Labor in the State of Maine.” Further, the names of conference rooms are being changed to make them more “business friendly.” One is called the “Perkins Room,” for Frances Perkins, the first female Secretary of Labor and promoter of New Deal policies that improved workers’ rights on the job. Perkins championed labor reforms after the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire that resulted in the deaths of 146 garment workers in New York City. This Friday is the 100th anniversary of that tragedy.

What is it about these TeaBag Governors? Have they forgotten all the advances that Labor brought to this country? Eight hour days? Weekends off? Summer vacations? Regular advancements and fair negotiations? This Le Page is as bad as Scott Walker and just as deserving of removal.

Related Articles

• What Maine’s assault on labor history really means (salon.com)
• Maine governor tries to disappear labor history (salon.com)
• Why Gov. LePage Can’t Erase History, And Why We Need a Fighter In The White House (tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com)
• Gov. LePage Orders Removal of Labor Mural from Maine Department of Labor (workinprogress.firedoglake.com)
• Robert Reich: Why Maine’s Governor LePage Can’t Erase History, and Why We Need a Fighter in the White House (huffingtonpost.com)
• No pictures of labor in the Department of labor. (preaprez.wordpress.com)
• Maine Governor To Remove Pro-Labor Mural From Labor Department HQ (thedaleygator.wordpress.com)