Despite weak GDP numbers of 1.8% and inflation raging, The Obama Boom continues to defy economic logic. The economy added 244,000 jobs last month. The 3 month streak of 200,000 plus jobs is the best since 2005, despite a very weak economy. Now to be honest, when you read the resort, most of the jobs created were low paying jobs. McDonald’s alone created 62,000 jobs in April. However unlike when Bush was in office, the media will not mention the low pay aspect of these jobs. Instead they will crow about the robust job growth and that good times are back!
American employers in April added more jobs than forecast, indicating the world’s largest economy is weathering the impact of higher fuel prices.
Payrolls expanded by 244,000 last month, the biggest gain since May 2010, after a revised 221,000 increase the prior month, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The jobless rate climbed to 9 percent, the first increase since November, a separate survey of households showed. Employment was forecast to grow by 185,000 last month, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
[....]
“This is good news, and it’s getting better,” James Glassman, senior economist at JP Morgan Chase & Co. in New York, said in a radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “People increasingly are becoming more confident that we are on a recovery track.”
[....]
The separate survey of households showed the size of the labor force was little changed in April and employment shrank by 190,000. That pushed the share of the population in the labor force down to 58.4 percent from 58.5 percent a month earlier.
Read the rest: U.S. Payrolls Grew 244,000 in April; Unemployment at 9%
Another gem in the report, that is not mentioned in this article. Wages only increases 3 cents! There are also some underlying weaknesses in this report.
The labor participation rate for April, in fact, stood unchanged at 64.2 percent.
[....]
Another measure of unemployment rose as well: the so-called “real” unemployment rate, which rose to 15.9 percent, up two-tenths from the prior month. The government calls the rate the U-6, and it measures not just those looking for work and unable to find jobs but also those “marginally” attached to the labor force and those who are working part-time but who want full-time work.
[....]
But the average workweek, considered a key barometer of economic activity, also did not move, staying stagnant at 34.3 hours. At the same time, wages actually edged higher, up three cents, or 0.1 percent, to $22.95.
[....]
Wages, which are looked at as important for inflation expectations, have gained 1.7 percent over the past year.
Normally spring is when companies hire, therefore growth of 200,000 is what should be expected. However, the jobs being created are low wage positions that don’t allow for upward mobility and increased living standards. As much as the Media will crow about the economy is booming and the great job markets, it’s a lie. Having a job is better than none at all, but McDonald’s and Walmart jobs are not signs of a great economy. This is a 3rd World style economy made up of low wage jobs. The American dream is on life support and something needs to change.
We need Tax and regulatory reform, so companies can create good wage jobs in America again. We have been in an 11 year whole of job and wage creation. Fiscal discipline is needed in Washington and a strong dollar policy is needed once again. Deficit reduction alone will not solves this. We must begin to pay off our debt and not just the interest. One of theways to pay of our debt, is to increase economic growth. Until economic reforms are enacted by Washington, nothing will change. We have had a lost decade of economic stagnation. With the current 3rd World Liberation President and the useless Eunuch Republicans in Congress, we are entering a 2nd lost decade.
America deserevs better than this.
Tags: April Unemployment figures, Job Reports, The Obama Boom
Let’s not forget that roughly one-quarter of these jobs were near-minimum wage jobs at McDonalds.
Way to go, 0bama.
tqcincinnatus wrote:
Those are the only kinds of jobs Obama approves of.
tqcincinnatus wrote:
Welcome back!
Great to see you!
Walmart and McDonalds are not the way to grow the economy.
@ doriangrey:
3rd World Style economics.
Rodan wrote:
Exactly, they are conveniences of a thriving economy, not the pillars upon which a thriving economy is built.
bullet trains coming to a port near you by the hands of unskilled laborers
along with that is having yer grapes checked before each life risking ride
McJobs
@ waldensianspirit:
Hey, but the child molesters will be Unionized, so all child molestation will be done in accordance to the prescribed methods…
Rodan wrote:
No, but a good way to grow your waistline.
/lurk
CynicalConservative wrote:
I prefer the old fashioned tried and true redneck way, through a steady diet of beer and red meat.
@ Iron Fist:
helps rid the young of the sense of being an individual
@ Speranza:
If itw as a Republcian President you woudl hear how bad teh jobs created were. But with Obama, it’s a boom!
@ doriangrey:
That’s been the problem the last 10 years. We are now a service oriented low wage nations.
@ Rodan:
They can talk it up, but people are acutely aware of what they feel in their pocketbooks. No amount of pie-in-the-sky reporting is going to change that.
@ waldensianspirit:
Ya gotta get on that young. Once they start thinking for themselves, you’ve lost them. Fortunately, the unionized school system is good at weeding out individualistic children, and squashing them.
@ Iron Fist:
It just sucks the GOP is uselesss. If we had a competant Rightwing Party, The Dems would be facing political oblivion for a decade.
@ Iron Fist:
I was one.
Iron Fist wrote:
Don’t give them ideas.
@ Rodan:
I agree. The economy is terrible, so the GOP should clean up in 2012 unless things unexpectedly really turn around. I don’t see that happening. But I don’t know that the GOP can take advantage of it. The entrenched elites would rather lose with Romney than win with a Palin or a Cain (Cain/Bachmann, anyone?). It will be a terribly important and terribly interesting year next year.
@ Rodan:
So was I. I speak from personal experience.
Rodan wrote:
They used to say that Bush created jobs with no future in them.
This guy is useless.
Mitt Romney agrees with Barack Obama on Osama bin Laden photos
Speranza wrote:
And now we have Obama who creates a future with no jobs in it.
Speaking of jobs if anyone knows of someone with a chemistry degree or background, NOT A PhD or Masters, willing to relocate to Houston, for a full time Lab tech in our resin R&D facility, We are looking. Shoot me a message.
@ Iron Fist:
See my 23.
The GOP Politburo has decided on Romney. Pawlenty, Daniels and Huckabee are the back up plans.
Palin, Trump, Cain or any other Conservative are a no go. They will be sabotage.
I have seen this movie before.
@ Rodan:
Judicial Watch has put in a FOIA request for the photos. We’ll see how far that goes. Obama stonewalls Congress on subpeonas, so a FOIA can probably be ignored. But somebody will leak them. Not everyone involved in the Op is a big Obama fan. That’s a given.
@ Speranza:
Yup, they used to point out the crappy wages of the jobs created. WIth Obama,. we are booming like never before.
Funemployment,what a flip little cutesy make believe word. Wonder how those still funemployed feel now.W.T.F got the kiddies down yet?
@ Iron Fist:
Obama will not go to Congress for a war authorization. Boehner the Eunuch will not force Obama’s hands. He knows teh Tea Party freshmen will vote against anyw ar authorization.
@ Rodan:
They will certainly try, but they tried in 1980, too. It is too early to tell, really. You are more pessimistic than me, and that is saying something. That light at the end of the tunnel might just be daylight
@ vagabond trader:
Winning The Future!
[/WTF?]
@ Iron Fist:
Dumbest slogan evah. Anyone else would have been ridiculed into defeat with that one.
@ Rodan:
Did you see where Palin came out against the Libyan War. Very interesting. If the Party would get behind her, Sarah would probably be unbeatable next year. She needs some polish and PR work, but not too much. People vote their pocketbooks, and they can see nothing but four more years of pain if Obama is re-elected. Are you better off than you were four years ago? That question should bury Obama.
@ vagabond trader:
That, 57 States, and on and on. Bachmann get’s hell for forgetting where the battle of Lexington and Concord was fought. I wonder how many of her detractors could tell me where the battle of Shiloh was fought without looking it up?
@ Iron Fist:
I saw what the GOP establishment did to Trump when he was taking the fight to the Left. they Spread lies and half truths, many Conservatives fell for it without doing their own research. I saw how they didn’t defend Palin against Leftist attacks. Is aw how they marginalized any Conservative critic of George W. Bush and create a cult around him.
I really don’t like the GOP or the modern Conservative movement anymore. AFter this election I’m done. I woukld quit now and start writing about WIne, Cheese, History and other subjects. But I want Obama gone.
I have given up hope, I’ll be honest with you.
@ Iron Fist:
Yes she has abondoed teh Bush speard Democracy crap. FOo that alone, the GOP establishment will NOT get behind her. In fact, they will smear her as an isolationist, anti-Semite and every other name in the book. The GOP Politburo believes teh American Revolution must be exported to other nations.
Rodan wrote:
I haven’t. If Obama is re-elected and the Dem’s keep the Senate and win the House, then I’ll give up hope. But until then, I’ll keep fighting. Historically, the odds are inour favor, but the GOP knows how to fuck up a sure thing.
@ Iron Fist:
He11,what did I just read about kids ages 7-17 have no clue who obl is/was. Outrageous. At the age of nine we were all informed about anti commie nuke holocaust Cuban Missle Crisis stuff in school.No coddling back then,even in libral states.
@ Iron Fist:
That was the last time the GOP Politburo was defeated.
For Obama so loves the poor that he creates more of them.
Everything that he does is “unprecedented.”
SciFiGuy wrote:
Hmmm Rein as in acrylic acetate cross-linking polymers? I’ve worked with a bunch of those, but not as a chemist, just in composite assembly.
Iron Fist wrote:
Hey, Obama thinks that juvenile asthmatics get
breathalyzers from doctors and that his “favorite”
ballclub used to play at Old Kaminsky Field.
@ Iron Fist:
I’ll give up hope if it’s Romney/Pawlenty/Daniels/Huckabee Presidency along with a GOP Senate and House. Do you really think Boehner and McConnell will oppose Romney’s Liberal polcies? The GOP Congress rolled over and played dead for Bush’s liberal policies. They play possum to Obama.
Plus with a President Romney, the GOP establishment and many Conservatives will be loyal and anyone who criticizes him will get called a Communist and traitor.
If Obama gets re-eclected then it should be open season on the GOP Politburo.
@ vagabond trader:
Yeah, in the ’80s we knew about the Cold War and what was at stake. Now school is nothing but indoctrination camp. They want to properly acclimate the children to a new Leftist reality. If the kids know nothing else, they’ll vote their preconceptions without even realizing how they have been programmed by the State. It is really sad. I hate that my nieces and nephew have to go to public school. It isn’t a real education anymore. Hell, it wasn’t when I came through, but it is worse now.
RIX wrote:
I’ve never seen “unpresidential” spelled that way before.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
Good point.
@ vagabond trader:
Heck in the 80′s when I was growing up. Everyone knew about the Commie threat and even WWII, which was 40 years before.
The kids today don’t even know what happened in 1999.
@ Iron Fist:
See my 48, yup!
the 80′s the last time America had real economic growth and Conservative President.
Rodan wrote:
Hey, wait—something happened?
This NGIA operation is top of the line, know a bit of it.
Some good info here at this link,
odd last line quoted from the current head of the agency, “Obama appointment”, shows how deep the AGW sickness is being spread.
It is not a good thing with important agencys that should be about the protection of the U.S. is bent to the wims of faud issues like climate change.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/in-raid-on-bin-laden-little-known-geospatial-agency-played-vital-role-20110505
of if that is messed up by me
http://www.nationaljournal.com
article by Marc Ambinder , 05/05/2011
@ Rodan:
I’ve got a meeting, but don’t give up! In 1942 Germany looked like it was winning WWII. Similarly, in 2008 the Left looked like they were winning the Cold Civil War. That is changing. This is going to be a long, drawn out struggle, not something that is ove and done in one Presidential term.
@ buzzsawmonkey:
Yes, 1999 turned into 2000!
Rodan wrote:
Most of them cannot even date when the Civil war took place within 10 years of 1861 -65.
*peeks in*
WHADDUP Y’ALL?!
@ m:
hello there and good day!
@ Speranza:
They don’t even know who Thomas Jefferson was!
244,000 Jobs —-
How many of those are full time?
I know around here there are a lot of part time opportunities.
And also, the chronically unemployed never get counted in any statistic.
Iron Fist wrote:
TSA instructors?
@ Peter:
Yup read the 2nd article. These are low wage jobs and McDonald’s accounted for 1/4 of it.
@ Rodan:
It sure is – it’s FRIDAY! LOL!
Rodan wrote:
i think that mass mcdonald’s hring was payback to the WH for the obamacare waiver that mcdonalds got.
they paid off the WH with some hiring to pad the numbers
tqcincinnatus wrote:
I’m one of the poor souls referenced in the article who’s working part-time at a minimum-wage job, and who can’t get full-time hours.
I keep applying for better jobs in my own field. Nothing’s happened so far…
UNDERemployment and the Greater Depression of 2010
thinks out-loud…
**lesseeee….if i put the puti’s new de-luxe sandbox in the right place, i can use it to practice my sand trap gold shots**
hmmm….
Peter wrote:
THAT is true.
Who are the 99ers?
Why employers avoid hiring the long-term unemployed
Not to mention the fact that I just got turned down for a position in my own field, on account of the fact that I haven’t been working in my own field since 2008. The fact that I’ve been employed in a minimum-wage job for quite some time, just doesn’t count.
coldwarrior wrote:
I suspect that you are correct.
@ coldwarrior:
I agree with that!
Rodan wrote:
I felt that way back when the 2008 election choices came down to Hillary vs. Obama vs. McCain.
But politics is an addiction that is harder to unhook people from than nicotine. You’ll be back!
In the same vein, I just found out I WON my appeal for unemployment. The former employer didn’t send a rep last week. So I’m able to pay some bills!
Macker wrote:
That happens more often than you’d think.
It’s just a ploy by the employer to see if they can get away with not paying you. It costs them nothing to try, and most people don’t want to go through the appeal process.
@ Macker:
oooh…as former management i can say that a wrongful termination judgement is the LAST thing the company wants to see!
nail them to the wall.
@ lobo91:
Just the man I was waiting to appear since you have seen this situation first hand. You see how the 2nd article points out that the jobs being created are low wage?
@ 1389AD:
I’ll still write stuff on Islam, 3rd World Liberation Movement, Serbia, Israel and other world events. But I’m very disillusioned on politics.
Macker wrote:
Good for you!
Rodan wrote:
Isn’t he the center for the Sacramento Kings?
@ 1389AD:
I can’t even get one of those jobs, probably because of how much I made in my last job.
coldwarrior wrote:
Checka U e-mail!
Rodan wrote:
Of course they are.
There are only two categories of jobs available today. One is minimum wage service industry jobs, the other is highly specialized technical and professional jobs.
There’s nothing in between.
Speranza wrote:
You’re giving them too much credit.
Most of them can’t date the Civil War to within 50 years.
lobo91 wrote:
Shit! At my former employer, there were young adults there who couldn’t even name the Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader! This, when Нанси Пелоси and Гарри Рид were in control.
@ Rodan:
Bullseye.
@ lobo91:
There’s nothing in between.
We are have a an hour glass jobs market. Nothing for middle skill workers.
@ Macker:
Those people aren’t relevant to them.
I’ll bet they could tell you who’s winning on American Idol, though.
Or the latest gossip about Lindsay Lohan.
O/T:
We just adopted a kitten.
El Gato has been vociferously complaining and meowing every time we humans leave our motorhome to earn money to pay cat food bills or do other things that humans need to do. When he had other cats around, he didn’t used to complain like that, but both of them died of complications of old age. So we figured that we’d get El Gato another cat (preferably a calm, quiet, full-grown cat known to like other cats) from a shelter, as soon as I get a better-paying job.
This weekend we’re on the road, on account of my stepdaughter’s graduation from college. We happened to stay at an RV park where the entire workforce of a carnival also happens to be staying. The wife of the carnival owner saw my husband attempting to call a small cat to come over to him. She went and got the cat, saying that she had been left by a woman who had to leave in a hurry because her mother had had a heart attack.
The cat is a female tuxedo kitten, I would estimate at roughly 5 months old or thereabouts. Because her tail and feet are big compared to her body size, she still has some growing to do.
The carnival owner’s wife already has a one-year-old baby and a tiny kitten (whose eyes aren’t even open yet) that she is hand-feeding, and her husband says no more cats. So she said that the tuxedo kitten will end up at the ASPCA if we don’t take her … you know the rest.
She got out last night, evidently because she is accustomed to using the great outdoors instead of a sandbox, but she was recaptured after succumbing to the lure of the cat food dish!
When we get back home, she’ll get her shots and will be spayed promptly.
Unfortunately, at least for now, El Gato and La Gata are afraid of each other and are hiding from each other a lot of the time. No apparent hostility – just fear. We’re trying to get them accustomed to each other so that they’ll eventually be friends.
@ Speranza:
OMG!!!!!!!!!!
@ Rodan:
And since there are so many applicants for every job, they can just ignore the ones who don’t have precisely the experience they’re looking for. Most employers require online applications now, which makes them a lot easier to screen using keywords.
lobo91 wrote:
It took me an EXTREMELY long time to get this job, for exactly that reason.
I had to fill out apps at the same places over and over (they do NOT keep them on file very long) and go back and inquire in person from the managers to see whether they were going to hire me. You really have to sell yourself (not in the carnal sense, to be sure, though I think that there are some young people of both sexes who get sales jobs purely because they’re cute).
Try to leverage any expertise that you have. In your case, you might try looking for work at a gun range or someplace that sells guns and ammo and/or other outdoor gear. Much as I hate to mention this, if Walmart is going to be selling guns and ammo again, you could try them.
Rodan wrote:
You’ve got that right.
That said, if that’s the only job available, I’d suggest taking it for the time being. It’s better than starving.
@ 1389AD:
Walmart never stopped selling guns and ammo corporate-wide. They’re the largest retailer in that business, actually.
They only stopped in certain geographic areas (and this isn’t one of them).
Rodan wrote:
Even HIGHLY skilled workers are unable to find work. Upper management types, doctors, politicians, and government employees are surviving. The rest of us, not so much.
Another problem is rising costs for food and fuel. Fuel costs make the costs of EVERYTHING ELSE go up, because everything takes fuel to produce or to bring it to market. If wages are stagnant or declining, and costs of food and fuel are rising, that means the economy is that much more in decline than the media would have us believe.
Gas Pump Activism: Print This Poster
Help the NObama Sticky Note Campaign Go Viral!
@ lobo91:
Plus they rather bring in H1-Bs for half teh price or use illegals.
New thread!