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[ThisWreckage]

http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/07/news/economy/august-jobs-report/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

In short, 96,000 jobs were added in August which is way down from the 141,000 jobs that were added in July.

Unemployment fell slightly to 8.1% from 8.3%.

Edited:

Could it be added to the OP that unemployment only fell to 8.1% because 368,000 Americans left the labor force? It's an important distinction.

 

[The Albatross]

Pretty bad news.

NPR: http://www.wbur.org/2012/09/07/national-jobs-report

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added 96,000 jobs last month, a weak figure that could slow any momentum President Obama hoped to gain from his speech to the Democratic National Convention.

The unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent in August, but only because more people gave up looking for work. The government only counts people as unemployed if they are actively searching.

The Labor Department also says 41,000 fewer jobs were created in July and June than first estimated. The economy has added just 139,000 jobs a month since the beginning of the year, below 2011′s average of 153,000.

The bleak report comes just two months before Election Day, and the economy is the top issue on most voters’ minds.

Cliffs:

• Unemployment fell from 8.3 to 8.1% because people gave up looking for work.
• August 2012 marks the lowest adult employment numbers in 31 years.
• August worse than June and July, and 2012 worse than 2011.

Sucks after a strong convention from the Democrats.

For some historical perspective, during the last recovery from a major recession, in the 1980s, we were creating 800,000 jobs a month. That's about as money jobs have been created in the last six months for 2012.

 

[Salvor.Hardin]

Could it be added to the OP that unemployment only fell to 8.1% because 368,000 Americans left the labor force? It's an important distinction.

 

[ThisWreckage]

"The overall job market still has a long way to go recover from the financial crisis. Three years after the recession ended, roughly 12.5 million Americans remain unemployed, and 40% of them have been so for six months or more."

That's quoted from the link I posted and it is insane. This is potentially damning for the Democrats.

 

[ggnoobIGN]

Damn. Not so good news.

 

[derder]

It's so simple: we need merr jerbs.

ROMNEY 2012

 

[ThisWreckage]

Could it be added to the OP that unemployment only fell to 8.1% because 368,000 Americans left the labor force? It's an important distinction.

I added the distinction, but it is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. People will be looking at the .2% differential and nothing more. You know that just as well as I do.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Game changing. This economy sucks

 

[ggnoobIGN]

Game changing. This economy sucks

Yeah. This is not good news for Bams.

 

[Kwhit10]

It's sad that people who see these types of headlines will not bother to read the article and assume the unemployment rate going down is a good thing...

 

[ThisWreckage]

It's sad that people who see these types of headlines will not bother to read the article and assume the unemployment rate going down is a good thing...

Right, but like I stated earlier, people will only look at the drop (the numbers) and leave it at that.

 

[Effect]

Game changing. This economy sucks

Especially since republicans are all to happy to cut government jobs. These numbers would be a LOT better if this cut spending crap wasn't going on. The difference has to be made up somewhere and you can't just rely on private sector jobs. They are out to make a profit by spending the least amount of money. Not provide jobs. Government (federal and state) employees people and they have more money to spend which can increase demand for business to the point where they need more employees to keep up and will hire more. The continued cutting of government jobs (federal and local state) or the lack of hiring there isn't helping.

 

[Sqrt_minus_one]

The number of jobs added is net right not 96,000 new hires and 100,000 existing lost their jobs leaving you with 4,000 jobs gone.

 

[Blearth]

Especially since republicans are all to happy to cut government jobs. These numbers would be a LOT better if this cut spending crap wasn't going on. The difference has to be made up somewhere and you can't just rely on private sector jobs. They are out to make a profit by spending the least amount of money. Not provide jobs. Government (federal and state) employees people and they have more money to spend which can increase demand for business to the point where they need more employees to keep up and will hire more. The continued cutting of government jobs (federal and local state) or the lack of hiring there isn't helping.

Only private sector jobs count for whatever reason!!!

 

[LegendofJoe]

Game changing. This economy sucks

Yep, and I don't see it changing anytime soon. Our leaders made the decision to prioritize capital over labor a long time ago and they have not been making the investments into training for the the types of jobs necessary to take advantage of that decision. Now most of the country is over burdened with debt and because of the jobs situation they are rightfully reluctant to take on any more to train themselves for a new job. What the country really needs is a micro-level bailout at the population level. This can be provided either through cheap to free job training or the federal government doing something to lessen the debt burden of the population.

I haven't researched whether something like this has ever been done, but do any of you think it would be possible for the government to issue credit vouchers that have to be used to pay back debt?

 

[Open Source]

Only private sector jobs count for whatever reason!!!

All of them count. Gov't -7K this month.

 

[ThisWreckage]

Maybe China will be kind enough to lend us some of those infrastructure jobs?

 

[The Albatross]

Especially since republicans are all to happy to cut government jobs. These numbers would be a LOT better if this cut spending crap wasn't going on. The difference has to be made up somewhere and you can't just rely on private sector jobs. They are out to make a profit by spending the least amount of money. Not provide jobs. Government (federal and state) employees people and they have more money to spend which can increase demand for business to the point where they need more employees to keep up and will hire more. The continued cutting of government jobs (federal and local state) or the lack of hiring there isn't helping.

Public sector jobs cannot sustain a recovery, because most are not permanent jobs. On top of that though, the point about Republicans cutting jobs is very misleading, because public sector jobs have fallen the most in states that are generally Democratic. Nevada, Michigan, Connecticut, Rhode Island, California all have 8+/- % reductions in public sector jobs this quarter -- with the exception of Nevada all lean strongly Democratic (even Nevada is a D state). The only states adding public sector jobs at a comparable rate, Wyoming, Alaska, Utah, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Arkansas, are generally considered more Republican leaning than Democrat (although West Virginny did go for Obama in 2008).

So, two points: You can't sustain a recovery on temporary government jobs. And you can't blame Republicans when D-controlled states have ~10% drops in public employment, while R-controlled states are generally the only ones adding public jobs.

Only private sector jobs count for whatever reason!!!

Government jobs have counted in this, and they've fallen by some 7000 this month. Public sector jobs are almost all temporary, and with the exception of stimulus spending there is always a relationship between private sector jobs and public sector jobs. Private sector jobs finance public sector jobs, there is no public money without private money, and so when private sector jobs are low, the public sector necessarily suffers as well. The exception, of course, is when there is stimulus spending. But you can only infuse an economy with artificial recovery by borrowing and printing money so much.

 

[Open Source]

Yep, and I don't see it changing anytime soon. Our leaders made the decision to prioritize capital over labor a long time ago and they have not been making the investments into training for the the types of jobs necessary to take advantage of that decision. Now most of the country is over burdened with debt and because of the jobs situation they are rightfully reluctant to take on any more to train themselves for a new job. What the country really needs is a micro-level bailout at the population level. This can be provided either through cheap to free job training or the federal government doing something to lessen the debt burden of the population.

I haven't researched whether something like this has ever been done, but do any of you think it would be possible for the government to issue credit vouchers that have to be used to pay back debt?

I think we should adopt Germany's system, where getting into a good university (which is free) is seriously competitive, and you can pay your way to a middling university or go to a trade-centric school if you don't make it.

 

[jchap]

Oooh! Another stat the Vita out preforms!

 

[Open Source]

Oooh! Another stat the Vita out preforms!

Give the Vita another four years. These things take time.

Spoiler

Also, Zen Pinball 2 is going to sell a million systems.

 

[Vicetrailia]

I think we should adopt Germany's system, where getting into a good university (which is free) is seriously competitive, and you can pay your way to a middling university or go to a trade-centric school if you don't make it.

Shouldn't adopt all of it though. In Germany if you fail you're locked out (at an early age too). That's not fair to the people who are the bottom denominator, who have less opportunity to be competitive. We can take the good points as you mentioned, but not the bad points. At least here if you fail it's easier to recover and go to the university.

 

[LegendofJoe]

I think we should adopt Germany's system, where getting into a good university (which is free) is seriously competitive, and you can pay your way to a middling university or go to a trade-centric school if you don't make it.

That would be wonderful, I'd definitely get behind that. How would you go about implementing that system though?

 

[ThisWreckage]

I think we should adopt Germany's system, where getting into a good university (which is free) is seriously competitive, and you can pay your way to a middling university or go to a trade-centric school if you don't make it.

What about all of these people that have exorbitant student loans looming overhead and are unable to find work? That needs to be addressed before the future generations. Our current college graduates don't have a future as it stands.

 

[Schattenjäger]

Where do they get these numbers from?

How is it reported?


Also, Ryan's line about college graduates living at home looking at fading Obama posters is hitting home with this report

 

[KHarvey16]

Could it be added to the OP that unemployment only fell to 8.1% because 368,000 Americans left the labor force? It's an important distinction.

The participation rate is always taken into account in every jobs report. This month and that number aren't remarkable with regard to that metric. Keeping this measure in mind is always important, not just now.

 

[The Albatross]

I think we should adopt Germany's system, where getting into a good university (which is free) is seriously competitive, and you can pay your way to a middling university or go to a trade-centric school if you don't make it.

I think that there would be a low & middle class revolt if people in the US were tracked into generally low paying, middling jobs.

From a utilitarian perspective, the German model works. But... I think a lot of people would be repulsed by the idea of career tracking a poor 9 year old because he or she goes to a shitty school in the Bronx.

 

[ThisWreckage]

Where do they get these numbers from?

How is it reported?


Also, Ryan's line about college graduates living at home looking at fading Obama posters is hitting home with this report

The younger generation is not going to turn out for Obama like he would hope. They're disenchanted. They also won't be voting for Romney, but since they won't be voting for Obama either it actually helps Mitt.

 

[Slime]

...aaand there go any hopes of a post-convention bounce.

 

[Open Source]

That would be wonderful, I'd definitely get behind that. How would you go about implementing that system though?

Direct block grants to states that implement this system at their universities. Funding to private trade schools that meet federal criteria, and/or establishment of a system of public trade schools. As block grants ramp up, phase out federally-funded loans and grants in equal proportion.

In short, we start paying for the things that make people productive and thus benefit society (which is the point of publicly funded education - personal edification is not) and stop paying for the things we don't need or have too much of.

Steering people into becoming doctors instead of anthropologists, for example, will help slow down the rise of medical costs and ameliorate the upcoming shortage that 30M new customers will create.

 

[Jintor]

Where do they get these numbers from?

How is it reported?

Planet money had a 'cast about this recently, give me a second

Found it

 

[JaggedSac]

For some historical perspective, during the last recovery from a major recession, in the 1980s, we were creating 800,000 jobs a month. That's about as money jobs have been created in the last six months for 2012.

That recession wasn't due to a housing burst. Major, major difference.

 

[Effect]

...aaand there go any hopes of a post-convention bounce.

I really think it depends if people accepted President Obama's speech about having patience. Also if people just focus on the unemployment number dropping as they go about their day. Unemployment number down, stock market up, and the last few days of people talking about how bad things were at the start of Obama's administration and jobs being added (though not as high as people want). Hard to say if there won't be a bounce after the last three days being as amazing as they were.

 

[.GqueB.]

The younger generation is not going to turn out for Obama like he would hope. They're disenchanted. They also won't be voting for Romney, but since they won't be voting for Obama either it actually helps Mitt.

He's also not going after them as vigorously as before. I've said this before and it's sounded like a joke but I think the "sexy" is gone from Obamas campaign. It was easy to get wrapped up in the allure of Obama in 2008 but now that's over for the most part. It's all about results at this point which many young people feel he lacks.

 

[ThisWreckage]

He's also not going after them as vigorously as before. I've said this before and it's sounded like a joke but I think the "sexy" is gone from Obamas campaign. It was easy to get wrapped up in the allure of Obama in 2008 but now that's over for the most part. It's all about results at this point which many young people feel he lacks.

"Hope" and "Change" worked post Bush. It won't work on the post employed.

 

[The Albatross]

Where do they get these numbers from?

How is it reported?

Jobs numbers are published the first Friday of every month by the Department of Labor. I don't know the actual process, but it's been the same since.. like the .. the 1890s. Every state has a dept of labor that reports their numbers to the federal dept.

 

[Schattenjäger]

Planet money had a 'cast about this recently, give me a second

Found it

Cool - thanks

 

[Open Source]

I think that there would be a low & middle class revolt if people in the US were tracked into generally low paying, middling jobs.

From a utilitarian perspective, the German model works. But... I think a lot of people would be repulsed by the idea of career tracking a poor 9 year old because he or she goes to a shitty school in the Bronx.

The "track" doesn't start that early. But it needs to start somewhere - our higher education system is incredibly inefficient, as is any system where people are free to make their own poor choices and have the government shell out major bucks to subsidize those choices. If you want the subsidy, you lose the choice. If you want the choice, you lose the subsidy.

Our lower education system is also incredibly inefficient - greater money spent for worse results compared to other 1st world countries. But this is for different reasons.

 

[The Albatross]

That recession wasn't due to a housing burst. Major, major difference.

There are major differences, but likewise, you can say that this recession was deeper, and in every recession in stable Western economies for at least 100 years, the deeper the recession the stronger the recovery. This is the first recession & "recovery" in contemporary modern economic politics to buck that trend. There were major differences in every other recession and recovery as well, but they all followed that trend.

 

[Hammer24]

Now watch out for QE3.

 

[teruterubozu]

He's also not going after them as vigorously as before. I've said this before and it's sounded like a joke but I think the "sexy" is gone from Obamas campaign. It was easy to get wrapped up in the allure of Obama in 2008 but now that's over for the most part. It's all about results at this point which many young people feel he lacks.

Middle-aged Middle-class America is Obama's current target. Very unsexy.

 

[Meier]

What do people do when they quit looking for work? How does this scenario exist?

 

[LegendofJoe]

The "track" doesn't start that early. But it needs to start somewhere - our higher education system is incredibly inefficient, as is any system where people are free to make their own poor choices and have the government shell out major bucks to subsidize those choices. If you want the subsidy, you lose the choice. If you want the choice, you lose the subsidy.

Our lower education system is also incredibly inefficient - greater money spent for worse results compared to other 1st world countries. But this is for different reasons.

This is the story of my life so far. I guess that is what happens to a lot of people whose passions and talents don't line up with one another. What do you do when the the area of focus you're passionate about has no jobs to offer, but the areas that do either require abilities that are beyond your reach or are in an area you have no passion in?

 

[JaggedSac]

There are major differences, but likewise, you can say that this recession was deeper, and in every recession in stable Western economies for at least 100 years, the deeper the recession the stronger the recovery. This is the first recession & "recovery" in contemporary modern economic politics to buck that trend. There were major differences in every other recession and recovery as well, but they all followed that trend.

I would be interested to see some other examples of housing market crashes and their recoveries. Plus the global economic issues are not helping matters as well. Many, many factors are going into the slow recovery.

A good read: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=158869005

Just a small tidbit.

"A housing collapse is very different from a stock market bubble and crash," says Nobel Prize-winning economist Peter Diamond of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It affects so many people. It only corrects very slowly."

 

[teruterubozu]

What do people do when they quit looking for work? How does this scenario exist?

They foreclose on houses and move their families into a relative's spare room. And that's a good case scenario.

 

[Bowdz]

Now watch out for QE3.

This. Markets are still slightly up that the Fed will go for more QE soon.

 

[LegendofJoe]

This. Markets are still slightly up that the Fed will go for more QE soon.

Too bad it won't do a damn thing to correct the primary drivers of the anemic recovery - personal debt and public sector austerity policies.

 

[.GqueB.]

Someone on GAF actually asked a very good question a couple months ago which was "is this economy now the new norm?" which I thought was a very good question when you think about it.

I, personally, don't see where all of these new jobs are going to come from. Companies are finding more and more, because of how things are going these days, that they may not need the added work force to get the job done because the job is getting done fine as is. This was a problem at my last job. They wouldn't hire a soul until they absolutely had to and even THEN they would wait. More and more we are finding ways through technology to work smarter not harder which also means less jobs. What happens when all of these self check out counters become the norm as ATM machines are now? Self driving cars could eliminate the need for cabbies. Who knows what's going to happen. Not saying this stuff will happen anytime soon but I just don't get where all these new jobs will come from. Not at the rate we seem to need them.

I think the job market is simply changing and no one is keeping up or no one is really recognizing it. There are so many stupid ways to make money these days and a lot of people saw this a while ago. Didn't some 15 year old make millions of dollars making myspace templates years ago? Not everyone can do this sort of thing but perhaps more of us need to think outside of the box because sending out a bunch of resumes isn't something that is working anymore and that isn't going to change in the near future unfortunately. It's shit but it's how things are going right now.

 

[pigeon]

What do people do when they quit looking for work? How does this scenario exist?

They live off family and reduce everybody's living circumstances. For example, since I got laid off, my wife is the single income in our household. We can make it, but we spend less, do less, and get more into debt. (Though I am still looking for work.)

Middle-aged Middle-class America is Obama's current target. Very unsexy.

This is definitely not the case. Did you watch the convention? Obama's strategy is to target the "big tent" voters he targeted last time -- women, young people, GLBT, people of color -- and attempt to convert them into likely voters. In the long term, this is going to work, that's why everybody keeps talking about the demographic swing against the GOP -- it's really a question of how effective it will be this year.

 

[Officerrob]

Could it be added to the OP that unemployment only fell to 8.1% because 368,000 Americans left the labor force? It's an important distinction.

200K of that is from 16-19 years olds. Looks like a big percentage of the people leaving the labor force were going back to school