The incredible shrinking labor force

Heres a link to the december employment report.
labor stats

How do we add 103k jobs and the unemployment rate goes down to 9.4%

If you look at the report it show that in dec of 2009 the population was 236,924,000 and the work force was 153,172,000
Jump to dec 2010 and the population is 238,889.000 and the work force is 153,690,000.

So we add 1,965,000 people to the population and only add 513,000 to the work force. The work force has been going down for months. This is ridiculous. total fabrication. Want the unemployment rate lower and can't create jobs just lower the amount of poeple in the work force. It pisses me off because I can't find much work but all we hear is how everything is getting better. The only ones who benefit from these numbers are the wall street thugs.

I just watched a report on the Sky TV channel about this. They had someone from Fox business conference over, even she said that it's likely that the unemployment figures only fell because more people "gave up on finding a job altogether and dropped out of the work force". I realise Fox are hardly reliable, but if even they are admitting the figures are nonsense, that's not a good sign!

reply to post by ScepticalBeliever
This is likely exactly what happened. The "official" numbers do not count such people. It is amazing really. Because you give up, you surrender to despair, you acknowledge that there are no jobs to be found, you no longer "count".

reply to post by jlafleur02


Doesn't seem to add up does it?

There's a fox news article on the main website which relays many have stopped looking for jobs so the unemployment numbers are not an accurate representation of people out of work. Do your own homework; I won't post the link.

I'll go ahead and speculate what people out of work are doing which doesn't benefit the country economically or give it integrity.

It may be safe to say the rich and middle class are USING legal American Citizens to do under the table work that illegals are claimed to do. Sure I get it now. Crack down on the illegals, then the U.S. citizens who are unemployed come running to take the jobs illegals held. Taxes are circumvented by both, costs are cut for the employer and the employee has no state or federal protection.

It may also be safe to say, more criminal actvity is taking place, which includes not running a legal business and reporting accurately for tax purposes. (Not just pot or what have you, but work such as lawn care or plumbing.) While the FBI may report declining numbers in crime, perhaps it is not accurate. More and more people are NOT reporting crime because of clogged courts, distaste for the police, or maybe it's just allowance of it based on sympathy.

And I will guarantee you the women in America are facing the biggest hardship, now that the economy is so bad, thousands of women are living with men out of wed lock in servitude of them. Basically many men in America now get their own personal servant and beat and belittle them because they know there is no where for them to run to and women are too embarrassed and don't want to cause any problems for anyone by telling.

If the main stream media would reveal the real face of America, their would be shock all accross the world.

It's happening everywhere not just United States. I live in Singapore and I'm a local here with decent skills/experiences.

I AM NOW JOBLESS again at a time when Singapore government boasts 10% growth.
In the past (2008-2009), I was jobless for above 1 year. Back then, the government and media still bragged about economic upbeat.
Yes, I approached the welfare and help groups. All merely sweet talkers and spin doctors. Not a single cent, not a single result from them.

I have a close friend and he's among the "DEMORALISED JOBLESS" IN SINGAPORE.

I'm in my early 30s and well-educated. Watching immigrants and foreigners possessing jobs (which I can easily replace them out), makes me really angry and disgusted.

If you're an American in the same situation as I am, how do you feel?

reply to post by wisdomnotemotion


Funny you ask how one feels as your handler states wisdom not emotion...I'll tell you how I feel as an American, and veteran. Sad and Mad.

I want to work a real job with real benefits that makes enough money to have a cute small house, with a horse, a dog, furnished modestly, decent healthy food in the fridge and a cute small economical car with enough money left over to get back to dabbling in art, to visit family one holiday out of the year and save for retirement. I want the ability to live alone so I can have space and privacy and feel remotely free. This is what I want. This is what some others have and hoard. If they have this they say they worked hard for it and it is there's. The term working hard is subjective anyway. But, the concept of having all these things means someone somewhere has to see me as a valuable person and have no desire to exploit me. I want what some others have, a nice life, and it scares them because those with a nice life think they will have to sacrafice something of theirs, so they look for ways to use me to their advantage if they decide to take me on. I could be them and they could be me, all are becoming aware of this and it strikes fear and dread in their hearts. I am ready to work but not exploit others in the process, nor break my back for someone else who doesn't care about me one way or another. I would work hard for a loving, wise and fair King/employer but they are no where to be found. Sounds like I seek a fantasy but it could be a reality if everyone would work together.

I have a BA but I've worked at horse stables for pennies doing back breaking work to working at campgrounds scrubbing public toilets, to desk jobs for small businesses. All these jobs gave me enough money for a dingy apartment with no money to save and I had to barter family heirlooms to pay rent some months. This was the price I paid for not having a room-mate or significant other to off set some costs.

And you know, adults aren't hard to train or please if they are given fair opportunity to live a decent life. Retarded adults work as baggers in grocery stores such as Safeway and they are obviously disabled but can do the job. That opens a whole other can of worms about those Americans who don't want to work but claim disability instead.

For an example, say a construction worker hurts his back on the job so he can't do his job anymore. Then he gets disability and a nice comfortable check for the rest of his life. At the tax payers expense, meaning those that are currently working now pay for people like this. WHY? And hello? Maybe taxes would be lower for all if more people worked instead of collecting disability and unemployment pay. This construction worker can do other work that doesn't require the back being bent over or lifting anything. I guarantee they can sit up watch tv and go shopping and attend social events, I see it all the time. This would be like someone with an accounting degree only looking for work in accounting but they wouldn't dream of being a janitor. Our system is abused and ruined in the United States and it makes me both sad and mad.

I pray for a fair and loving system, and good and wise Kings/Employers to reach out to the flocks worldwide and give them hope for abundant and peaceful lives. ^~$~^ It's so sealed.

reply to post by Key-Minder


The drop in the crime rate is due to police layoffs I think.
the injured construction worker get disability from his employer. This is why insurance for a construction company is so high. As a carpenter for every 100.00 I pay an employee I pay the insurance company 26.00 dollars. We go out and estimate a job and get beat down hard by a company with no insurance-(hirering illegals or under the table to avoid the insurance premium) so we get no work. Unless you do the same. Its a bad idea cause if someone gets hurt then you are basically out of business

I feel for you. I want some of the same things you do. A small place with enough land to grow my own food and to be left alone. Seems too much to ask, doesn't it? Just freedom. I don't desire to live alone, I would like my kids and a real partner in life. My ex-wife definitely wasn't it.

Originally posted by Key-Minder
reply to post by wisdomnotemotion

 

For an example, say a construction worker hurts his back on the job so he can't do his job anymore. Then he gets disability and a nice comfotable check for the rest of his life. At the tax payers expense, meaning those that are currently working now pay for it. WHY? And hello? Maybe taxes would be lower for all if more people worked instead of paying into disability and unemployment pay for those that didn't work. This worker can do other work that doesn't require the back being bent over or lifting anything. I guarantee they can sit up watch tv and go shopping and attend social events, I see it all the time. This would be like someone with an accounting degree only looking for work in accounting but they wouldn't dream of being a janitor. Our system is abused and ruined in the United States and it makes me both sad and mad.

Maybe I've misunderstood you, but firstly you seem to recognise that unemployment is high, then you go on to say that unemployment benefits are wrong. How can you justify that? The figures show that not enough jobs are being introduced, it's not like there are millions of vacant jobs waiting to be filled. We have a similar problem in the UK, I'm unemployed right now, I'm reasonably intelligent and have decent qualifications, yet I can't even find a job in a supermaket, let alone in the field of accountancy, which I wanted to persue- not for a lack of trying, either.

If the government scrapped unemployment, it would simply ruin peoples lives and totally alienate them from the work force. How would someone be able to get to an interview for a job if they had no source of income? How would they be able to afford to make themselves presentable enough to get a job? No-one wants to employ a smelly, dirty homeless person (or at least the vast majority don't).

A major problem is when greedy, corporate giants start cutting costs. I used to work part-time for a supermarket in the UK while I was studying, I was always happy to do extra hours, however, for seemingly no reason they started cutting down on hours in order to increase profit, no overtime was available and they stopped hiring new people when other employees left. They were already making over £100m a year in profit, why do they need to make more? By doing this, all they are doing is taking money out of the pocket of the workers and general public, as the amount of people who would previously have been hired in the future will fall, and stuffing it into the pockets of the fat cats. The statistics in the U.S speak for themselves- the top 1% own 90% of the wealth, this is wrong.

The business world currently is geared towards technology and finding substitutes for man hours, less and less people are going to be needed for jobs, as machines become more and more capable (obviously this has already happened to a pretty large degree). All this is going to do is, again, shift the wealth from the middle/working class into the elite, as the amount of jobs available falls and unemployment rises. Cutting costs should basically be renamed getting rid of jobs and paying people less.

reply to post by jlafleur02


The numbers are worst, because what many fail to understand is how the government keeps tags on the unemployment figures.

Just like economic figures they are manipulated and sugar coated.

The only numbers that counts for the government when it comes to unemployment is of those that are still receiving unemployment benefits.

So anybody that have lost their benefits and that never qualify for them will never be counted on the unemployment figures.

Now that is some scary thoughts.

reply to post by ScepticalBeliever

Very true about unemployment. How it is necessary for most people. I saw a spot on that homeless guy with the golden voice. It was pretty uplifting. Kind of strange how its getting a lot of coverage, almost llike its intentional.
Heres a link

golden voice

Still like the story though. Many people lose control of thier lives from drugs. many in my family.

Originally posted by ScepticalBeliever
I just watched a report on the Sky TV channel about this. They had someone from Fox business conference over, even she said that it's likely that the unemployment figures only fell because more people "gave up on finding a job altogether and dropped out of the work force". I realise Fox are hardly reliable, but if even they are admitting the figures are nonsense, that's not a good sign!

edit on 7-1-2011 by ScepticalBeliever because: (no reason given)

I hate to brake it to you but NO news from any of the news channels is reliable. if you follow the money they are all owned by the banks and the banks own the federal reserve! dont trust them anymore! get your news from the only free thing left. the internet!

I was going to start a thread on this also, but good find!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f77a56523ee3.png[/atsimg]

I've also tracked the employed vs. not working from the BLS data. Polynominal trendline based on quarterly periods.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/327aba656f70.png[/atsimg]

There will be a massive disaster soon. Financial and social chaos follow.