Economic Quality

[Paslode]

This what I call a recovery.......


Total Nonfarm Payrolls have decreased by -1.3 million from December 2008 (134,379K) to June 2012 (133,088); Source: St. Louis Fed
Full-time jobs based on the Household Survey, have decreased by 2.5 million from 117,039K to 114,573K; Source: Table A.9, BLS
Parti-time jobs based on the Household Survey, have increased by 1.6 million from 26,3187 to 27,894K; Source: Table A.9, BLS
Foodstamps recipients have increased by 14.6 million from 31.567 million to 46,187 (as of April 2012); Source: USDA
Disability recipients have increased by 1.3 million from 7.427 million to 8.733 million; Source: Social Security Administration


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/economic-quality-scorecard-obama-administration

[Paragrouper]

I read another report published by James Pethokoukis, a columnist and blogger at the American Enterprise Institute. Link (http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/07/june-jobs-swoon-americas-labor-market-depression-continues/)

He explains Junes job figures very succinctly.

This was not the employment report either the American worker or the Obama campaign wanted to see right now. The Labor Department said the U.S. economy created just 80,000 jobs in June, less than the 90,000 economists had been forecasting. And private-sector job growth was just 84,000, down sharply from 105,000 in May. Not doing fine.

The unemployment rate stayed at a lofty 8.2%.

As a research note from RDQ economics put it: “The good news is that employment growth is not slowing further but there is no sign of it picking up either. At this pace, job creation is not fast enough to lower the unemployment rate with the labor force growing at close to 150,000 per month on average.” Shorter: Stagnation Nation

The real problem is the smaller size of the work force.

If the size of the U.S. labor force as a share of the total population was the same as it was when Barack Obama took office—65.7% then vs. 63.8% today—the U-3 unemployment rate would be 10.9%. Even if you take into account that the LFP should be declining as America ages, the unemployment rate would be 10.5%.