Total Non-Farm Employment Is Still At 2005 Levels

The data may be viewed here.

Unemployment Rate Rises To 8.3 Percent: All 42 Months Under Obama Over 8

For the report from the BLS, see here.

For the interactive graphic of unemployment from The Wall Street Journal, see here.

Full-time employment DROPPED from 114.6 million to 114.3 million. In April 2006 the level stood 5 million higher at 119.3 million. 

As recently as April 2006, just six years ago, people working part-time for economic reasons had dipped to 3.9 million. Today the number still stands elevated at 8.246 million, an INCREASE from last month's 8.21 million and more than double the level of six years ago.

Total part-time INCREASED from 27.894 million last month to 27.925 million now. In April 2006 the level stood at 19.1 million. Total part-time employment today is nearly 9 million higher than it was six years ago.

Total self-employment INCREASED from 9.572 million last month to 9.616 million now. The number stood at 10.5 million in April 2006. The number of entrepreneurial Americans has declined by nearly a million in six years.

Holders of multiple jobs INCREASED from 6.769 million last month to 6.845 million now. The number stood at 7.4 million in April 2006. The number of people holding extra jobs has declined by over half a million in six years.

Change you can believe in.

June Unemployment 8.2 Percent: Every Month Under Obama Above 8 Percent

The government's unemployment report for June 2012 is here.

I'm sure Obama would just love to take credit for January 2009 when unemployment hit 7.6 percent. All 41 of his months in office are a sea of red on this chart, with no month below 8 percent unemployment.

Unfortunately Obama would then have to take credit for his massive and ineffectual February 2009 stimulus spending which his little Marxists like Rex Nutting at Marketwatch and elsewhere shift onto George Bush's fiscal year ending in summer 2009 to make Obama look like a tight wad when it comes to spending.

If I've still got a quarter left in my pocket on election day he can have it if Obama gets unemployment to 7.6 percent by then.

Unemployment Rate Climbs To 8.2 Percent Despite Weasel Words From Bureau Of Lies And Statistics

Obama's Laser-Like Focus On Jobs

The report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics may be found here. PDF here.

Notice the attempt to weasel out of the fact that the rate actually increased 0.1 from last month by stating the rate was "essentially unchanged":

Nonfarm payroll employment changed little in May (+69,000), and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade but declined in construction. Employment was little changed in most other major industries.

The Obama regime is presiding over an employment catastrophe above 8 percent for his entire presidency: 3 years and 4 months.

Unemployment Falls to 8.1 Percent, 115K New Jobs

Consensus estimates had new jobs at 170K. Gee, they were off by only 55K this time.

Obama has been president for 39 full months, all of them with unemployment above 8 percent.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the anemic results for April 2012 here:

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 115,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services, retail trade, and health care, but declined in transportation and warehousing.

Unemployment in the US in the post-war period seems to get progressively worse only since America jettisoned strong dollar policy under Richard Nixon in 1971, as this graphic from The Wall Street Journal plainly illustrates.

And Obama wants us to go FORWARD with that, which means unemployment will only get worse over the long haul with the likes of him at the helm.

If only forward meant the past, like 1948-1968.

Total Private Employment Today is at April 2000 Level

For the data, go here.

Peak private employment in America was reached in January 2008 under George W. Bush at 115.65 million. As of March 2012 the level is 4.85 million fewer, at 110.8 million.

Total Non-Farm Jobs in 132 Million Range Similar to 2000-2001 Level

See the data here:

Labor Force Participation Rate at 63.8 Was Last Matched in April 1983

The data are available here.

The percentage of people working relative to the total population has consistently and decisively fallen under Obama:

Headline Unemployment Falls to 8.2 Percent, Forecast Jobs Miss By 40 Percent

The report is here.

Jobs fell short of the forecast 200,000 by only 80,000.

Oops.

Markets are closed for Good Friday. Futures are sharply lower:

Part-Time For Economic Reasons Remains Elevated at 8.2 Million

Data here.

Total Private Employment Still Over 5 Million Lower Than in January 2008

Data here.

Labor Participation Rate Falls To Carter Administration Levels in 1979-1980

The average civilian labor force participation rate during the Carter Administration was 63.2 percent.

Unemployment Falls To 8.5 Percent in December, November Revised Up to 8.7 from 8.6

The data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are reported here.

For 2011 through November the reported rate of unemployment has been revised higher four times and lower four times. As revised, unemployment has averaged 8.99 percent in 2011 through November:

If this were touted as an economic recovery by a George W. Bush administration, everyone would be laughing out loud and the Democrats would be calling for his head.

Obama and the Democrats have been utter failures. They should all resign.

The Day The Jobs Stood Still: Obaamu Baracka Nikto

About 2 million fewer total non-farm workers are employed today than in January 2009, despite growth in the population.

Consumers Increase Spending in 2011 From Savings and Social Security Tax Holiday

Net real retail spending looks set to come in up 2.9 percent in 2011 over 2010.

Per the data here from the Census.

Average monthly retail and food expenditures in 2010 came to $363 billion per month, or $4.4 trillion overall.

Through October 2011 average monthly retail and food expenditures are running at $389 billion per month, or $4.7 trillion annualized.

That's a 6.8 percent increase so far, or about $26 billion more per month.

Less inflation running at 3.9 percent, the net real increase appears to be 2.9 percent.

$billions monthly

Unfortunately, about $14 billion of the $26 billion nominal monthly increase could be attributed to a reprieve on Social Security taxation of 2 percentage points on employee compensation running at an annualized rate of $8.3 trillion as of October. That extra money in paychecks is simply being spent.

Where did the remaining $12 billion per month come from?

From savings.

The savings rate has plummeted since January, from a rate of 4.9 percent to 3.5 percent. In January we were saving nearly $47 billion per month, but now only $33 billion, a difference of $14 billion per month.

Add the pernicious work of inflation on top of all that, and the rosy scenario of increased consumer spending doesn't look so good after all, especially since incomes are stagnant to falling. Hours worked year over year are flat, and real average hourly earnings overall are down 1.6 percent, according to the BLS here.

When the Social Security tax holiday expires on December 31, there will be less money available to spend, automatically. Robbing from Social Security for such temporary gains is a gimmick, but don't underestimate the politicians' and the voters' eagerness to repeat it under these grim circumstances. They'll take the money, even if it means saving less, because they need it.

Weekly Standard: Income Growth Has Slowed and Gone Negative in August?

See the figures, especially in Table 1 here, at the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

After reaching a peak in July, August personal income fell below that of July, but is still higher than personal income was in June, and January.

The Weekly Standard is making much of the steady decline in income growth so far in 2011 here, but without once mentioning the boost to incomes the temporary reduction in the payroll tax was supposed to supply.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics here, average weekly hours have been stagnant for a year, so income gains cannot be coming from more hours worked. In fact, all other things being equal, you would expect nominal income to remain the same. Which is to say, no one is getting much of a raise, but they still have jobs.

But here the BLS shows that average weekly earnings have increased 1.85 percent year over year in August 2011.

Hm.

Interestingly enough, the difference between a payroll tax of 6.25 percent on $100 of income and 4.25 percent on $100 of income is . . . $1.82 less tax, going straight into people's paychecks.

And after 7 months in 2011, using the seasonally adjusted annual numbers of the BEA, income is up 1.94 percent, including the downtick in August.

1.85, 1.82, 1.94 . . . looks like a pattern to me.

Nominal incomes are up slightly in consequence of the payroll tax cut. Otherwise, it's a stagnant income picture, just like the unemployment picture.

Unless of course you factor in CPI and discuss real incomes. But that's a whole other, and very real, problem.

Involuntary Part-Time Has Surged 10 Percent in September Since July 2011

As always, calculatedriskblog has the best charts, here:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' recent data is shown here:

Median Amount Saved in Retirement Accounts is $2,000?

Which would imply that half the population has less than that saved, and half the population has more than that saved.

The oft-repeated datum is pretty darn old already. A decade! It is based on a survey of about 3,400 people taken way back in 2001 and reported on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website in an "updated" posting dating to 2005, here:

The median amount held in retirement accounts--$2,000--provides another indication of the wide variation in the amounts held by households.

More recent surveys of somewhat smaller samples of Americans paint an only slightly less apocalyptic picture of the resources Americans may or may not have tucked away:

Just over a third (34 percent) of Americans have no retirement savings, up from 30 percent in 2009, according to a new Harris Poll of 2,151 adults. ... Some 42 percent of individuals age 45 and older have less than $25,000 saved for retirement, EBRI found. Only 11 percent of all current workers say they have $250,000 or more saved for retirement.

At a 4 percent per year drawdown rate in retirement, people with $250K can draw down roughly only $10K per year for 25 years, and then it's pretty much gone.

Pretty hard to live on that without Social Security and Medicare, which themselves are going bust.

Americans are not ready for the future, but the maw of the future sure is ready for them.

February Unemployment Drops .1 to 8.9 Percent, Breaking 21 Month Record

For 21 consecutive months, unemployment had been at or greater than 9.0 percent.

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports here the headline number of 8.9 percent:

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 192,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.9 percent, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today . . ..

The number of unemployed persons (13.7 million) . . ..

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was 6.0 million and accounted for 43.9 percent of the unemployed.

Both the civilian labor force participation rate, at 64.2 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 58.4 percent, were unchanged in February . . ..

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged at 8.3 million in February . . ..

In February, 2.7 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, up from 2.5 million a year earlier. ... These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. ...

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.2 hours in February . . ..

In February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 1 cent to $22.87. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.7 percent.

Break out the party hats and fireworks.

January Unemployment Marked the 21st Consecutive Month At or Above 9 Percent

January unemployment fell .4 point to 9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, here.