Friday, August 07, 2009

Unemployment Realities

That "unexpected" "upside" "green shoots" and "positive news" of today?

Take it with a grain of salt.

To be sure, the drop in the unemployment rate [from 9.5 to 9.4 percent] was a surprise, but it was all due to the slide in the labour force — the employment-to-population ratio gives a more accurate picture of the slack in the labour market and the hidden secret in today’s report was that this metric slid to a 25-year low of 59.4% from 59.5% in June and 61.0% at the turn of the year.

--Quoted in Vox

I continue to maintain that while recovery signs are there (see, e.g., ECRI Leading Indicators), the Big Question for Obama and his Democrats is employment.

If Porkulus doesn't deliver employment before 6/2010, Obama's a lame duck. Period.

1 comment:

  1. "If Porkulus doesn't deliver employment before 6/2010, Obama's a lame duck. Period."

    I agree. Which is why his stimulus package should have been big enough to deliver something close to full employment. It isn't. Gonna be a tough task to sell ARRA when unemployment is still hovering around 8% next year.

    BTW, I see that we (and the world) snatched up another $75 billion in treasuries this week with little or no movement in yields (surprise, surprise).

    Let me know when you're ready walk toward the light dadster.....

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