CNBC: Economy Sheds 95,000 Jobs; Rate at 9.6% as Easing Looms

[SkinsHokieFan]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39571732

The U.S. economy unexpectedly shed jobs in September for a fourth straight month as government payrolls fell and private hiring was less than expected, hardening expectations of further Federal Reserve action to spur the recovery.

Nonfarm payrolls dropped 95,000, the Labor Department said on Friday. Private employment, a better gauge of labor market health, increased 64,000 after rising 93,000 in August. A total of 77,000 temporary jobs for the decennial census were terminated last month.

Job seekers wait in line to have their résumés reviewed. Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images Job seekers wait in line to have their résumés reviewed at the second annual Anaheim/Orange County Job Fair.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected overall payrolls would be unchanged, with private-sector hiring gaining 75,000.

The government revised data for July and August to show 15,000 more jobs lost that previously reported. It also said its preliminary benchmark revision estimate indicated employment in the 12 months to March had been overstated by 366,000.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.6 percent in August. In the wake of dovish speeches by senior Fed officials, including Chairman Ben Bernanke, analysts believe it now almost certain the U.S. central bank will launch a second round of asset purchases—with any expecting a move in November.

"They may delay it till December, but the odds favor we get something,'' said Michael Strauss chief economist at Commonfund in Wilton, Connecticut.

Expectations the Fed, which has already pumped $1.7 trillion into the economy by buying mortgage-related and government bonds, would announce a second phase of quantitative easing at its Nov. 2-3 meeting have buoyed U.S. stocks and prices for shorter-dated government debt and have undercut the dollar.

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[Burgold]

Not good news. Not totally unexpected, but bad nontheless. We've stopped the major bleeding, but haven't addressed the causes. This is a government failure, and a free market failure, and an individual failure.

[SkinsHokieFan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/business/economy/09jobs.html?_r=2&hp

From the New York Times: "The steep drop was far worse than economists had been predicting. Most estimates expected a loss of only a few thousand jobs."

Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment at 10.1% in September

October 7, 2010

Underemployment, at 18.8%, is up from 18.6% at the end of August.

PRINCETON, NJ -- Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, increased to 10.1% in September -- up sharply from 9.3% in August and 8.9% in July. Much of this increase came during the second half of the month -- the unemployment rate was 9.4% in mid-September -- and therefore is unlikely to be picked up in the government's unemployment report on Friday.

Friday's Unemployment Rate Report Likely to Understate

The government's final unemployment report before the midterm elections is based on job market conditions around mid-September. Gallup's modeling of the unemployment rate is consistent with Tuesday's ADP report of a decline of 39,000 private-sector jobs, and indicates that the government's national unemployment rate in September will be in the 9.6% to 9.8% range. This is based on Gallup's mid-September measurements and the continuing decline Gallup is seeing in the U.S. workforce during 2010.

However, Gallup's monitoring of job market conditions suggests that there was a sharp increase in the unemployment rate during the last couple of weeks of September. It could be that the anticipated slowdown of the overall economy has potential employers even more cautious about hiring. Some of the increase could also be seasonal or temporary.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/143426/Gallup-Finds-Unemployment-September.aspx

[DieselPwr44]

s2MjQ17kDng&feature=related

[twa]

The holiday season is coming,I'm sure we will see more hiring then.

Merry Christmas.

[Landryslegend]

This administration has been proven wrong about the economy a great many times. Were really proven wrong about the stimulus,....BIGTIME.

Here are SOME of the answers....

[btfoom]

Not good news. Not totally unexpected, but bad nontheless. We've stopped the major bleeding, but haven't addressed the causes. This is a government failure, and a free market failure, and an individual failure.

Right - very bad news. Right - most forecasters saw this coming and it is bad. Wrong - the 'major bleeding' hasn't stopped, and the current administration has just made the current situation worse. Right - current President/Congress are major fail, Wrong - President/Congress haven't let free-market do its job, they tried (and failed) to do the job of the market, Wrong - individuals are at mercy of government and aren't able to hire as they want.

If the government wants to take money away from the only folks who make money and hire people, then don't be surprised when unemployment rate stays high. For reference, see President Carter, Jimmy (circa 1979).

[Landryslegend]

Im thinking we go into full freefall mode shortly after the new year. Might be the best thing for us ,...really. Rise or fall, sink or swim,...it will be on our own merits. Better to finally be dealt with instead of this long lingering insanity that only prolongs the inevitable. In the end,.........the cream will rise to the top, as it always does. Only then can we start to get healthy.

[Landryslegend]

ICEBERG?......WHAT ICEBERG??

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/are-we-heading-for-another-great-depression/

Corresponding vid is near the bottom of the page.

[Burgold]

Right - very bad news. Right - most forecasters saw this coming and it is bad. Wrong - the 'major bleeding' hasn't stopped, and the current administration has just made the current situation worse. Right - current President/Congress are major fail, Wrong - President/Congress haven't let free-market do its job, they tried (and failed) to do the job of the market, Wrong - individuals are at mercy of government and aren't able to hire as they want.

If the government wants to take money away from the only folks who make money and hire people, then don't be surprised when unemployment rate stays high. For reference, see President Carter, Jimmy (circa 1979).

Reagan had higher unemployment in his time in office, over 9%, for 1982 and 1983, which was higher then Carter's highest unemployment, which was 7.6. Now, the situation then may be comparable the as it was to now: That the factors for this high unemployment (which, BTW, is almost the same percentage as Obama's current unemployment level) could have taken time to develop. But you aren't going to hear the Right talk about this specific subject. You aren't going to hear Republicans say, "Reagan had 10.8% unemployment in 1983." You aren't going to hear Republicans say, "Hey, it took Reagan a couple of years to bring down unemployment -- maybe it will take Obama time as well."

An article on Reagan:

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/07/02/unemployment_numbers_context

Obama NEVER said he had a magic elixir to save this country. Those are words from his critics, but not from him. Obama always said this would take time. He has only been in office for two years.

Reagan ran on a "hope and change" sort of campaign, but there he was, in 1983, two years after being sworn into office, with high unemployment. Apparently, though, what's good enough for Reagan ain't good enough for Obama, who apparently was given a two year timetable to fix everything.

The irony is that if anyone seemingly believes in a magic elixir, it is apparently his opponents, who don't want to give him any more time.

[Goaldeje]

This is why I hate threads like this. They degenerate so damn quickly into attacking or defending whoever is in power at the time. Kinda like BP blaming the manufacturers of the blowout valve instead of trying to find a solution to the problem. Fix the problem, then we can assign the blame.

I say all this with no earthly idea of how to fix anything by the way.

[Burgold]

The problem is that the fix isn't governmental. Government can help and government has mostly done what it can do. Can't lower interest rates much more. Shouldn't artificially stimulate much more? There were a boatload of taxcuts for businesses in the stim. So, taxcuts aren't the answer either. More, eight years of the Bush tax cut neither prevented this mess or led to prosperity.

So, the problem lies in the free market. It lies in the decisions of businesses. It lies in the habits and actions of consumers.

Blaming government is simple. It alleviates the burden from us. Truth is, we all have a hand in this. From those of us who accepted mortgages that were too good to be true, to those who greedily underwrote bad contracts, to those businesses that looked for short term profits at the expense of long term prosperity, to those who have decided that outsourcing our jobs was good for the country and deserved to be incentivised.

This economy was built on the mistakes of government, but also the intentional misdeeds of business, and individuals who abused or were played for fools.