Unemployment rate drops as unemployed just plain give up

It really is depressing. The good news is unemployment drops to 9.5%, the bad news is, the job market lost another 125,000 jobs.

Total job losses were  about 25,000 more than the ADP survey this week predicted. Yes the unemployment rate fell to 9.5% but that’s mostly the result of people throwing up their hands, and quitting the job market.

The report was the latest sign that the economic recovery may be faltering.

“Overall what this does is it reinforces the market’s view that the U.S. recovery is losing steam,” said Greg Salvaggio, vice president of trading at Tempus Consulting in Washington.

The really bad news come when you count those folks who have given up, the unemployment rate jumps a bit.

More telling is the “real unemployment” rate, or U6.  Including people working part-time and those who’ve given up looking, the real unemployment rate is 16.5%.

Here’s another not unexpected tidbit in the report. The private sector continues to hire, albeit, not very much, and clearly not enough to keep up with the labor market. It’s the public sector that shed jobs,.

Private hiring rose 83,000 after increasing only 33,000 the prior month, the Labor Department said. But nonfarm payrolls, dropped 125,000—the largest decline since October—as census jobs fell 225,000.

Here’s the bottom line on this report. The private sector continues to created jobs, but the pace is so anemic that it’s barely making a dent in total US employment. These kind of gains are not unexpected after an economy hits bottom. Companies continue to look for new employees but only where its absolutely necessary.

But economy needs to create 200,000 to 300,000 jobs each month to keep up with new people entering the work force, and put people out of work, back to work. And I actually think that number is understated because it counts on older workers leaving the workforce, which in this recession, is not happening.

The economy needs to add around 125,000 jobs each month just to keep pace with new entrants to the work force and analysts believe that it will take several months with gains 250,000 jobs or more to really put a dent in the unemployment rate, Schlesinger reports.

As Jim Hoft points out … it’s the worst since Herbert Hoover. Heh!

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Jim Vicevich

Jim is a veteran broadcaster and conservative/libertarian blogger with more than 25 years experience in TV and radio. Jim's was the long-term host of The Jim Vicevich Show on WTIC 1080 in Hartford from 2004 through 2019. Prior to radio, Jim worked as a business and financial reporter for NBC30 - the NBC owned TV station in Hartford - and as business editor at WFSB-TV in Hartford for 14 years while earning six Emmy nominations and three Telly Awards.

14 Comments

  1. Anne-EH on July 2, 2010 at 12:11 pm

    Jim there is a saying: recession is when your neighbor is out of a job, depression is when you are out of a job, and recovery is when politicos such as those who are liberal Democrats, RINOS, and President Barak Obama is VOTED OUT of THEIR JOBS! VOTE to THROW THE BUMS OUT!



    • Dimsdale on July 2, 2010 at 3:18 pm

      There is another saying: when the Republicans are in charge, it is "the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression"; when the Democrats are in charge, it "could have been worse" and "is looking up",

       

      All together now: "Happy days are here again, the skies above are clear again……"



  2. JollyRoger on July 2, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    It's amazing the Dems spin the "Funemployment", unemployment checks are just like a job and a stimulus too, 9.5 isn't too bad because it could have been a lot worse…  It's certainly not the tune they play when things are much better and there's a republican in power!  I was reading the archives and noticed "Gary the socialist" hasn't posted since Barry took office- does anyone think they might be the same guy?  Don't forget: Hartford Tea Party on Sunday the 4th from 1 to 3 PM @ Capital Building!!!!



    • JollyRoger on July 2, 2010 at 1:56 pm

      Obama is coming out with memoir on his presidency: "The Audacity of Hopelessness"



    • Dimsdale on July 2, 2010 at 3:19 pm

      I was thinking, "The Audacity of a Dope".



  3. Dimsdale on July 2, 2010 at 3:12 pm

    Would I be presumptuous if I started calling this the Øbama Depression now?



    • Anne-EH on July 2, 2010 at 4:03 pm

      No, it would not, BTW it sure feels like one now.



  4. sammy22 on July 3, 2010 at 2:12 am

    No good news all around.



  5. winnie888 on July 3, 2010 at 6:50 am

    http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
    Very interesting data.

    Having a family interest in manufacturing it's interesting to see those numbers go up…of course, one has to question how many government contracts for the two "useless" wars started with "tenuous data" are actually increasing the hiring trend in manufacturing.

    And of course, as this data comes from the U.S. Department of Labor, the validity of it is dubious as the numbers have been fraudulently propped up in the past to make things look just a bit more rosy for the administration.

    No matter how you cut it, private sector jobs are scarce, scarce, scarce…



    • Dimsdale on July 3, 2010 at 7:33 pm

      Add to that the fact that those of us with jobs are getting no raises, and the mighty Øbama is floating the trial balloons for big tax increases, which are effective pay cuts.

       

      Invest in cases of SPAM and plant those victory (over Øbama) gardens!



    • Anne-EH on July 4, 2010 at 4:46 am

      Dims, this is truly shaping up to be a summer of discontent, weither you are employed or not that not even a summer vacation will resolve.



    • Anne-EH on July 4, 2010 at 4:44 am

      Department of labor must have "cooked" the books so as to make things still look "good".



  6. JollyRoger on July 4, 2010 at 10:27 am

    See Maxine Waters' Freudian Slip as she threatens socializing (taking over) oil companies!!!!! <a href="http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=65111” target=”_blank”>http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=65111



  7. rickyrock on July 8, 2010 at 10:10 am

    Again let's look at the numbers for the Republicans : Let's start with the" big daddy" Ronald Reagan ….when he took office in 1981 the national deficit grew from 900 billion to 2.8 billion (at the end of his presidency) almost tripling the amount. Unemployment under Reagan was higher (6.75% vs. 6.35%) private investment under Reagan as a percentage of GDP was lower under Reagan (16.08% vs.16.86%).The most troubling statistic is that real wages declined sharply under Reagan's presidency.Also the AMT (alternative minimum taxes ) reduced the tax deductions for middle class Americans.Those who earned more than a million dollars paid less taxes …….I guess Obama is correct when he says that trickle down economics doesn't work.The Republicans have and will consistently screw the middle class .I have facts to back up my opinions.Good luck America….
    http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411703



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