Where are the jobs, jobs, jobs?

Oct. 7, 2012

Katy Grimes: Friday morning the latest monthly jobs reportwas released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “The unemployment rate decreased to 7.8 percent in September, and total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 114,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care and in transportation and warehousing but changed little in most other major industries,” the BLS reported.

Despite the positive spin being used by the White House and compliant media, these are the facts: We created fewer jobs in in America during September than in August, and fewer jobs in August than in July. More than 600,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in the U.S. just since President Obama took office.  The real unemployment rate would be closer to 11 percent if it weren’t for all of the people who have stopped looking for work and completely dropped out of the labor force.

The results of the last four years are a tough pill to swallow: 23 million Americans are struggling to look for any work, nearly one in six are living in poverty, and 47 million people are dependent on food stamps to feed themselves and their families.

One of the best commentaries I found about the jobs report was on Instapundit:

JEFF CARTER: Some Quick Thoughts on Unemployment. “No, I don’t think the number was manipulated. Was it correct? I doubt it. When are government statistics correct the first time they are released? Crop reports are never right, and private estimates of crop size are generally closer. . . . I always discount the headline number anyway. U-6 didn’t budge. The headline number probably can be explained by technicalities over counting part time workers. But what worries me is the macro situation we have. 114K of non-farm jobs is pitiful. America needs to create over 300k jobs per month to really dent our employment problems. Additionally, GDP is more pitiful than the employment statistics. America needs 3-3.5% growth to keep moving ahead, creating wealth and more importantly, being ahead of inflation. At lower than 2% growth we are gradually becoming a nation of paupers.”

“They’ll turn us all into beggars ’cause they’re easier to please,” wrote Glenn Reynolds.

The bottom line is that America needs to create more than 300,000 jobs per month to really begin with improvement to our employment problems. Until that happens, things are not looking up.