Again, the U.S. misrepresents its economic data...and we blame China for making up it's GDP numbers. The following charts from Gallup (unadjusted for seasonality), show that the unemployment rate in the United States actually increased to 10.3% in February. Furthermore, underemployment (includes part-time workers trying to find full time work) is at 19.9%, almost an all time high! Looks like our inflationary policies are barely working, while there are riots in 7 Middle Eastern countries, and emerging suffer rising agricultural prices. Does Bernanke believe in Karma?
The percentage of part-time workers who want full-time work worsened considerably in February, increasing to 9.6% of the workforce from 9.1% at the end of January. A larger percentage of the U.S. workforce is working part time and wanting full-time work now than was the case a year ago (9.3%).
Underemployment Surges in February
Underemployment, a measure that combines part-time workers wanting full-time work with those who are unemployed, surged in February to 19.9%. This resulted from the combination of a sharp 0.5-point increase since the end of January in the percentage unemployed and a 0.5-point increase in the percentage working part time but wanting full-time work. Underemployment is now higher than it was at this point a year ago (19.7%).
Jobs Situation Deteriorates in February
There is essentially no difference between the unemployment rate now and the one at this time a year ago; January's rate, in contrast, showed a 1.1-percentage-point year-over-year improvement. This suggests that the real U.S. jobs situation worsened in February. That is, jobs are relatively less available now than in January.
See global employment data >
In the broader underemployment picture, the situation is much the same. January's year-over-year improvement of 1.0 points became -0.2 points in February. In turn, this suggests job market conditions in terms of underemployment also worsened during February.
This deterioration in the jobs situation combined with surging gas prices, budget battles at the federal and state level, and declines on Wall Street tend to explain the recent plunge Gallup recorded in consumer confidence. They also align with the continued "new normal" spending patterns of early 2011. Although Gallup's Job Creation Index has improved over the past year and showed modest improvement in February, the improvement has not been significant enough to positively affect underemployment and unemployment.
Warren Buffet said Wednesday on CNBC that the U.S. unemployment rate should be in the low 7% range by late 2012. If that is going to be the case, the job creation environment must change dramatically from what it is today.
Gallup.com reports results from these indexes in daily, weekly, and monthly averages and in Gallup.com stories.
The following charts from Gallup (unadjusted for seasonality), show that the unemployment rate in the United States actually increased to 10.3% in February.
Hooookkkkkkyyyyy....What is it seasonally adjusted?
A statistically significant percentage of the working population is employed on a seasonal basis. Stands to reason that the unemployment rate would be adjusted seasonally... No?
I was quoting a sentence from the first paragraph. For this to be a reasonable argument, it MUST be seasonally adjusted for exactly the reason you gave. Also, reported unemployment is going up as more people who had given up are now reentering the workforce so it's not like a higher unemployment rate is a meaningful number. What is necessary is job growth over 200,000 a month - that's beating the pop growth rate. Given 200,000 a month we'll be back to full employment in 10 years or so (hurray....).
Everything in the U.S. is seasonally adjusted. Bad retail numbers? Answer: Snow. Poor manufacturing numbers? Answer: Heat wave.
^ yes
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