BREAKING: U.S. Jobless Rate Falls to 6.1% (Lowest Since Sept. 2008), June Payrolls Rise 288,000

[Hissyspit]

Source: Bloomberg

@BloombergNews: BREAKING: U.S. June payrolls rise 288,000, jobless rate falls to 6.1%

@BloombergNews: JOBS: Unemployment rate at lowest level since September 2008: http://t.co/Ky95n5rfvC/s/7gLi

Payrolls in U.S. Rise More Than Forecast; Jobless Rate at 6.1%

By Shobhana Chandra
July 03, 2014 8:30 AM EDT

Employers added more workers than projected in June and the unemployment rate fell to an almost six-year low of 6.1 percent, underscoring a brighter U.S. labor market that will help spur the economy.

The addition of 288,000 jobs followed a 224,000 gain the prior month that was bigger than previously estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 215,000 advance. The jobless rate is the lowest since September 2008. The number of long-term unemployed fell to 3.1 million, showing they’re having greater success finding work.

A rebound in the economy after a first-quarter slump is encouraging companies such as Ford Motor Co. (F) to add to staffing levels, laying the groundwork for a pickup in wages needed to further propel consumer spending. More employment opportunities will probably keep Federal Reserve policy makers on the path to gradually reduce monetary stimulus.

“The labor market kicked into a higher gear in the second quarter,” Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jeffries LLC in New York, said before the report. “You really have to look at the post-first-quarter data, and that’s looking pretty good. Even housing is showing improvement.”

Read more: http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-03/payrolls-in-u-s-rise-more-than-forecast-jobless-rate-at-6-1-.html

---

For more, please see DUer mahatmakanejeeves's monthly gov't numbers report for today: http://www.democraticunderground.com/111654556

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. I'm sure somebody will arrive soon to tell us how terrible this is

It doesn't include turtles and those born before 1860: the ZZTop Index. They're lying to us!!!!

[quadrature]

48. a loss of 523K full time jobs ...

seems kinda terrible to me

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Getting there

Wanted to also do a shout-out to monthly jobs poster/explainer mahatmakanejeeves, who you beat with your post probably by fractions of a second.

[Hissyspit]

3. Yeah, he did a good post. It's in 'Economy' forum now:

I didn't realize he did that monthly.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/111654556

Good morning, Freepers and DUers alike. I especially welcome our good friends from across the aisle. You're paying for this information too, so you ought to see this as much as anyone. Please, everyone, put aside your differences long enough to digest the information. After that, you can engage in your usual donnybrook.

Depending on where you look, you can find something to like or something not to like in the data. A commenter to the WSJ. blog notes that the labor force participation rate, which fell by 0.4 percentage point to 62.8 percent in April, held steady this month.

If you don't have the time to study the report thoroughly, here is the news in a nutshell:

- snip -

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- JUNE 2014

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 288,000 in June, and the unemployment rate declined to 6.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains were widespread, led by employment growth in professional and business services, retail trade, food services and drinking places, and health care.

Household Survey Data

In June, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 6.1 percent. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 325,000 to 9.5 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons have declined by 1.4 percentage points and 2.3 million, respectively. (See table A-1.)
....

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) declined by 293,000 in June to 3.1 million; these individuals accounted for 32.8 percent of the unemployed. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed has decreased by 1.2 million. (See table A-12.)

In June, the civilian labor force participation rate was 62.8 percent for the third consecutive month. The employment-population ratio, at 59.0 percent, showed little change over the month but is up by 0.3 percentage point over the year. (See table A-1.)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. Them's the rules.

It's the American way.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. Cool and thank YOU too

I have friends and family and neighbors still looking - mostly in the over-50 crowd. Am trying to be hopeful.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. The dog ate my homework.

Actually, Bloomberg and the other wire services have the information ahead of time. They are forbidden to release it until 8:30:00. Then they hit the "send" button.

BLS was a little late this morning. I think that maybe because of the early release, the person who does that was off getting coffee and donuts and suddenly remembered that they were doing the jobs report a day early this month. He rushed back to the office, with the result that BLS didn't have the news up until 8:32.

Darryl Issa will get to the bottom of this.

[Hissyspit]

12. As someone who used to work with wire services at radio stations

and is a former newspaper editor, I can say that that is completely plausible.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. LOL

Appreciate you guys!!

Issa needs a new pair of shoes to whine about.

[toddwv]

4. Now imagine if the Republicans hadn't cut over 600,000 public jobs...

Still doesn't help the stagnant wages, but not much can be done about that while the Republicans hold the House majority and the Senate as hostage.

[IronLionZion]

29. It was over a million

across many local and state jobs. It gets really scary if you include contractors.

[flpoljunkie]

5. True Republican malfeasance to block infrastructure spending when cost of borrowing at all time low!

Just think how many jobs would be created if Republicans stopped blocking any and all of President Obama's calls to rebuild this country's crumbling infrastructure.

[thesquanderer]

6. So much for the Obamacare job-killing effect. (n/t)

[tridim]

8. Damn you, "Worst President Since WWII"

!!!!!!!11

[Hissyspit]

10. That poll is so fucking stupid.

Anybody who doesn't say that GWB is the worst President ever is an imbecile, or even worse.

[IronLionZion]

33. Arguments could be made for Reagan and Nixon too.

Without Reagan I doubt we would have ever had 9/11.

Nixon opened up China to lower wages across the entire world to exploit their endless supply of cheap labor.

[IronLionZion]

13. See the liberal media is trying to distract us from Benghazi again!

Good to see things getting better. Labor force participation stayed about the same this time so that's a good sign for the unemployment rate ticking lower. More of this and we'll be in good shape for the election and see higher wages.





Unless GOP obstructionists do something to F it up.

[rickyhall]

14. With graduation new people are entering the job market faster than new jobs,

Right?

[leftynyc]

16. Well, my nephew just graduated

the Business school at Univ of Texas and lived in a house with 7 other guys. 7 got jobs and one is still there at the school getting his MBA. So I guess those with business degrees are getting hired.

[MannyGoldstein]

15. Amazing. One party stopped demanding austerity,

and things get a bit better. Can you imagine if both parties stopped embracing Hoovernomics?

[DallasNE]

17. The 1st Quarter Slump Was Due To

The government shutdown, with a small assist from the weather, so I agree that the 1st quarter data should be treated as an anomaly.

[Fred Sanders]

18. Meanwhile at Fox News, their website is completely silent as their propagandists pour through

the details trying to find a bad number so they can write a bad headline.

That is how propagandists do it. It wonder if this month they will just attack the accuracy of the number, because it is all good.....

Must ?NOT let the brainwashed zombies know Obama is not a failure, it would wake them up and then what?

[Jimbo S]

20. Thank you, President Obama!

For saving us from a Great Depression, saving my engineering career and my home.

[nolabels]

22. Worst President for a long time

WTH??? Poll taps Obama as 'worst president' since World War II
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025182253

Sure glad he isn't very good, otherwise we would be in real trouble

[Dopers_Greed]

21. Obama is cooking the books

To distract from...

(Pick one or more)

1. Benghazi
2. IRS
3. Prisoner Exchange
4. Iraq
5. The robot that defeated that teabagger in the primary

[TygrBright]

23. Yeah! Ignore all those folks who...

....used up all their unemployment benefits and are still not working, or "working" only in the sense of cobbling together piecework, temp jobs, day labor, and self-employment.

Ignore all those young people who can't find summer jobs or worthwhile employment out of High School or college, but don't count in the statistics because they don't have prior jobs to be "unemployed" from.

Ignore all those "retired" folks who've discovered their mingy pensions and/or SS aren't enough to pay the bills, and want actual useful part-time jobs they can do and feel good about to stretch their income.

Ignore the immigrants who never popped up on the statistical radar in the first place and thus can't be part of the numbers.

Ignore the QUALITY of the "employment" represented in these statistics, which include the legions of shit jobs in retail, hospitality, fast-food, and other minimum-wage/entry level work that provide grinding, stressful exertion for not enough money to even pay RENT, much less live with dignity.

Ignore all that... and CELEBRATE!

Woo-hoo!

ironically,
Bright

[phleshdef]

25. Oh for fuck sake, get off your cross already.

Its just not dignified.

[abelenkpe]

30. Wow, that was ugly. nt

[phleshdef]

31. It was intended to be.

[Psephos]

40. Stupid and rude usually come in the same package.

You are a case in point.

Statistics from the BLS' own website:

111,000 more Americans left the labor force in June. That brings the total to 92.1 million, up from 78.7 million in 2007. So, 200,000 more Americans are employed than in 2007, while 13.4 million have supposedly left the workforce and no longer count toward unemployment figures. Meanwhile, 10 million more people have *entered* the working-age cohort since 2007.

Although there are 2.3 million more working-age people today than there were just one year ago, and only 2.1 million of them actually found jobs, the unemployment rate has somehow dropped from 7.5% to 6.1%. It's a miracle, I tell ya!

Labor participation rate is the lowest since 1978. One in three working-age people does not work. Yay team.

The oligarchs count on widespread economic ignorance and cook the numbers blatantly, knowing they'll get away with it, and actually be praised by the yay-team fools. It's nothing more than garden-variety propaganda at this point. Anyone who reads history knows what that portends.

[phleshdef]

41. no one is ignoring people who are still down on their luck

And every time we celebrate improvements... Someone comes along with a high minded lecture about all the downsides. I'm sick of it.

On top of that... Labor force participation is partially dropping because boomers are retiring at a rate of 8000-10000 a day

[joshcryer]

43. Boomers are retiring.

That is just made up BS.

[Psephos]

44. The workforce numbers do not lie. And they come from BLS itself. n/t

[joshcryer]

45. The only relevant number is those who want work but can't.

Period.

[Psephos]

46. How many of the 32% who are unemployed want a job?

Remember, that's 32% of the *working-age* population who have no job. Which is the worst (lowest) percentage since 1978, which was a very bad year indeed.

[joshcryer]

47. Certainly not the disabled, stay at home parents.

Retired people.

But I'm sure you'd be fine with making them go to work.

The labor force is 155 million, employed make up 146 million. That means 6% of the labor force are "out of a job." (Around 9 million people.) But only 6 million of them want a job.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t01.htm

[840high]

27. Ignore all that - you're

on DU - where reality sometimes doesn't exist.

[abelenkpe]

34. Unemployment numbers have never counted those folks

But you are correct that there continues to problems with people unable to find steady work. I'm sorry that anyone would give you grief for pointing that out. I know many people who have lost work to offshoring over the past two years who have been forced to chase job opportunities overseas or accept part time insecure positions for less money and benefits. It's difficult to get sympathy for it though since it reflects poorly on the message that everything is getting better.

[DCBob]

36. Those folks are precisely why many are celebrating.

These numbers indicate that many of those folks will have a much better potential for an improvement in their situations.

[TygrBright]

37. That's an interesting connection. I'm not seeing it, though.

Can you explain?

Because to me, it looks as though the uncounted unemployed, and the catastrophically underemployed, remain "stuck."

I'm not saying it couldn't happen-- it's possible.

But I'm looking for long term trends in real wage value, combined with better employment numbers (not just unemployment numbers, but sector-by-sector job numbers, vacancy rates, etc.) to tell me when things are looking up.

Given the utter lack of leverage labor currently has in the economy, this looks to me like rearranging the deck chairs.

I do hope I'm wrong, though.

'scuse me, I gotta climb back up on my cross, now.

o~"Always look on the bright side of life..."~

musically,
Bright

[DCBob]

38. I think we are seeing better "long term trends".. just very very slow.

No doubt there are some who might remain "stuck" due to long term unemployment and deep debt. Something needs to be done to help those folks.

[Orsino]

24. I guess Congress must be doing a decent job?

No. Our capitalist machine can work in the right way sometimes, but just imagine how low the unemployment numbers could go if Washington tried.

[TwilightGardener]

26. Worst...President...EVER!!

[navarth]

28. My only question is

...what kind of jobs? It would be nice if they were manufacturing solar panels, but I can't expect miracles can I?

[nolabels]

42. They divided the burger flippers job into two

The second guy gets to put the cheese on also

[StevieM]

39. I am surprised the numbers are out today. Don't they usually come out the first Friday of the month?

eom

[IronLionZion]

49. It's a corporate socialist conspiracy

that has nothing to do with our nation's Independence day at all.

FEMA camps are next

[alcibiades_mystery]

50. ROFL