Jobs report not as rosy as it seems: - Wealth Management

March 08,2013

Meanwhile, number of multiple job holders jumps to record high

Jobs report not as rosy as it seems: - Wealth Management

"The number of Americans designated as 'not in the labor force' in February was 89,304,000, a record high, up from 89,008,000 in January, according to the Department of Labor. This means that the number of Americans not in the labor force increased 296,000 between January and February," reported CNS News.

Meanwhile, Andy Sutton scrutinized today's February nonfarm payrolls report from the Labor Department in an analysis at GoldSeek:

"Since today is 'Jobs Friday', let's pick around the current report and see what's what. On the surface the report looks solid - 236,000 jobs added in February with the unemployment rate dropping to 7.7%. The first big thing that jumps out is the massive downward revision to the January numbers from 157,000 jobs added to just 119,000. Oops! The second item worth noting is that the now infamous BLS birth/death model added 102,000 of the new February jobs. Which means they might exist, but then again, they might not. As noted above, Labor Workforce Participation Rate continued to drop, continuing a decade-plus trend.

"Now to the utterly disturbing. The number of multiple job holders rose by a record 340,000 in February. These are people who are working more than one job to make ends meet. The number of full-time jobs dropped by 77,000 and the number of part-time workers rose by 102,000. One can easily see how this becomes a quantity vs. quality issue. This is clearly another case where there is much more to the story than will be reported by the lapdog media. Once again, they are complicit in the growing national ignorance."

And over at TheStreet, economist Peter Morici also noted that the jobs report isn't as positive as the media is characterizing it:

"Most of the reduction in unemployment from its 10% peak in October 2009 has been accomplished through a significant drop in the percentage of adults working or looking for work. Were the participation rate the same as when President Obama took office, it would be about 10.9%. Adding in part-time workers who would prefer full employment but can't find it, the unemployment rate becomes 14.2%.

"Prospects for stronger growth remain constrained because the January increases in payroll taxes and rates on wealthier households subtracted $150 billion from disposable income, and sequestration removes another $42 billion from spending through October."

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