Usually these days, when the media reports “unemployment was flat, but job growth was sluggish,” you all know how to translate that by now. It means that unemployment actually ticked up through people leaving the labor force, but the BLS…
Tag: It’s the Stupid Economy
Zero Sum Games and Conservativism
I’m working on the budding theory that, if you can afford to quit your job, it may be at least a little immoral to keep it. Unless, I guess, you’re much better at it than someone else would be and…
Unemployment Actually Down, Still Above 11%
Unemployment declined in February 2015 for the second straight month, to 11.42%. This is the lowest unemployment has been in the US since June 2009, when unemployment was 11.26%. The Reporting Gap, which indicates how under-reported the official BLS figure…
Overpopulation and the Growth Obsession
Did you ever wonder why property values always (2008 aside) go up? It just feels like one of those economic truths we imbibe at a young age, probably before we even take an Economics class, for those of us who…
401(k)’s and IRAs are a Pyramid Scheme
The stock market is booming! On Wednesday, February 25th, 2015, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time record-high of 18,224.57 points. This is getting awfully close to triple the March 2009 lows and is, according to all the…
Labor Force Participation Rates Falling Twice as Fast as Predicted
Contrary to what you might imagine about the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and its record-keeping on the purported unemployment situation, they are fairly aware of the impact of the crashing labor force participation rate on the overall employment picture.…
No, Unemployment Didn’t Just Decline
It went up. Unemployment in the United States actually rose in December 2014 from the previous month, from 11.56% to 11.66%. This is largely the result of a revision to November numbers declaring the unemployment rate during that month to…
321,000 Jobs Fail to Change Unemployment Data
Nothing changed in November. At least as far as the jobs numbers go. The BLS announced in today’s report that unemployment and labor force participation were unchanged at 5.8% and 62.8%, respectively. This means we have precisely mirrored last month’s…
Americans Leaving the Labor Force: Who are These People?
I’m not the only person talking about the people who have left the labor force in the last ten years. It’s a hard story to ignore, though most of the media is up to this challenge. But CBS and the…
Unemployment Drops to 5-Year Low… of 11.71%
Unemployment in the United States dropped precipitously in October 2014 according to this morning’s report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The report shows that actual unemployment dipped by almost a quarter-percent month-over-month, declining from 11.94% in September…