While the pundits and press gush over this month's employment report, things are still not rosy. The new official unemployed tally is 12,758,000. The average length of unemployment is still very high, 40.1 weeks.
People unemployed for 27 weeks or more is now 42.2% of the total unemployed, or 5,518,000 million. This number has barely budged as a percentage of total unemployed in comparison to pre-recession and historical levels.
The January 2012 monthly unemployment figures show the official unemployment rate dropped -0.2 percentage points to 8.3% and the total jobs gained were 243,000. Total private jobs came in at 257,000. Government jobs dropped -14,000. Information jobs dropped by -13,000 and financial services payrolls dropped by -5,000. All other major job categories had payroll gains.Temporary jobs increased 20,100.
December's unemployment report had a little indicator of better news. A recession indicator, those forced into part-time hours due to slack economic conditions just plummeted. Overall, people being forced into part-time jobs declined by 371,000 in a month, to a tally of 8,098,000 people.
The December 2011 monthly unemployment figures show the official unemployment rate dropped -0.2 percentage points to 8.5% and the total jobs gained were 200,000. Total private jobs came in at 212,000. Government jobs dropped -12,000. Temporary jobs also dropped -7,500. All other major job categories had payroll gains. Manufacturing gained a much needed 23,000 jobs.
The November Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, had no change, or zero from last month. The flat line was caused by a -1.6% energy decrease for the month. Food increased 0.1%. Gas alone decreased -2.4% in a month and food at home, or groceries, decreased -0.1%. Eating out increased 0.3%. Core CPI, or price increases minus food and energy costs, rose 0.2%.
The November 2011 unemployment report showed 120,000 new payroll type jobs were added. Additionally, September job growth was revised from +158,000 to +210,000. October nonfarm payrolls was also revised up, from +80,000 to +100,000.
The November 2011 monthly unemployment figures show the official unemployment rate dropped -0.4 percentage points to 8.6% and the total jobs gained were 120,000. Total private jobs came in at 140,000. Government jobs dropped -20,000. 22,300 of those jobs added were temporary.
The October Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, decreased -0.1% from last month. The overall decline was caused by a -2.0% energy decrease for the month. Food increased 0.1%. Gas alone decreased -3.1% in a month and food at home, or groceries, increased 0.1%. Core CPI, or price increases minus food and energy costs, rose 0.1%. Core CPI is a Federal Reserve inflation watch number.
JOLTS stands for Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The September 2011 statistics show there were 4.17 official unemployed people hunting for a job to every position available. There were 3,354,000 job openings for September 2011, a increase of 7.19%, from the previous month of 3,129,000.
The October unemployment report is yet another disappointment, with not enough jobs to keep up with population growth. The jobs situation has been dismal for 46 months. While the average time being unemployed decreased -2.72% from last month, the length of unemployment is still at record highs.
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