Jobless rate skewed by hiring of 1.2 million census workers

Thanks to the Amazing Innernut, we can read the Financial Times, published in London.  If one were limited to reading only Obama's sycophantic state-run media, one might not realize that the jobs numbers are being affected by the [ongoing] government hiring of 1.2 million [temporary] census workers.

 

Foot soldiers for census ease jobless rate

Mekonnan Simore has been searching for work in Washington since losing his job as a cab driver almost a year ago. In a city with a 12.1 per cent unemployment rate it has been tough going for the 34-year-old, who moved to the US from Ethiopia when he was a child.

“I’ve got thousands in debt and I’m looking hard for work,” Mr Simore says. “It’s brutal out here. No one is hiring.”

But for the first time in months Mr Simore is optimistic on his job prospects. He applied for a job with the US Census Bureau, which is hiring 1.2m workers to carry out its decennial population count on April 1. The job, which pays $20  an hour, would make Mr Simore a foot soldier in the largest civilian mobilisation of workers in US history – an effort likely to give a temporary boost to a battered jobs market.

The census could not come at a better time, economists say, with official data out on Friday expected to confirm that the national unemployment rate hovers just below 10 per cent....

Meanwhile, CNN's Money.com sees no reason to mention the hiring of 1.2 million census workers in the article they have headlined:

 

Unemployment claims drop

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance fell last week, the government said Thursday.

There were 469,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended Feb. 27, the lowest level since Jan. 9 and down 29,000 from a revised 498,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said in a weekly report.

A consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected new claims to drop to 470,000.

The 4-week moving average of initial claims was 470,750, down 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 474,250.

"It's a big drop, and we're moving in the right direction, but we're still not really at the level where I would hope we would be," said Tim Quinlan, economic analyst at Wells Fargo. "It seems like the gradual improvement we saw at the end of last year is leveling off at this point."

Continuing claims: The government said 4,500,000 people filed continuing claims in the week ended Feb. 20, the most recent data available. That's down 134,000 from the preceding week's revised 4,634,000 claims.

The 4-week moving average for ongoing claims fell by 29,250 to 4,575,750 from the previous week's revised 4,605,000.

[Paragraph #8] But the drop may just mean that more filers are dropping off those rolls into extended benefits....

 

As long as we have such a biased mainstream media, we are simply not a free country.  Rewind to BtB Oct. 31, 2003:

... yesterday the big economic story was that during the third quarter, our economy grew at an annualized rate of 7.2% , described by CNBC as "a simply stellar number."

The NPR reporter I heard said simply "this is good news for the Bush administration."

Isn't it good news for the entire country? Instead of welcoming favorable economic news, NPR seems to mourn it! They would rather see the economy, and maybe even the the country, go down the toilet -- just to vindicate their Bush-hatred. Now, how sick is that?

And the day before:

Googling for "democrats for bush" I got 1,790,000 hits:

Democrats doubt Bush's credibility ... Democrats challenge Bush's credibility ... Democrats attack Bush record ... lash Bush 'lunacy'... hammer Bush on Iraq ... rap Bush's postwar planning ... boycott Bush's nominee ... slam Bush ... bash Bush ... charge Bush ... blocking Bush ... rip Bush ... target Bush ... hit Bush ... blast Bush ... criticize Bush ... grill Bush ... welcome Bush's fall in polls ... call Bush a liar ... lambaste Bush ...

By page 6, it becomes repetitious.

 

In today's media?

• (CNN) – President Obama will appear on "America's Most Wanted" with the show's host John Walsh this Saturday to commemorate its 1000th episode. ...
• AP NEW ORLEANS — The Obama administration on Thursday laid out a plan to deal with the catastrophic dangers of rising sea levels, ...
• Washington Post - Michael Gerson - So why is President Obama pursuing education reform with such creative vigor?
• USA Today - Veteran rocker -- and occasional Democratic fundraiser -- Jon Bon Jovi is promoting President Obama's volunteer program, United We Serve. ...

 

 

Meanwhile, seemingly unbeknownst to the media, the bloom is off the rose:   Yesterday's Rasmussen Index showed 41% of voters STRONGLY disapprove of Obama's performance as president.  That's intense -- and I would think, uncomfortably close to the toxic level that Pres. Bush had in his last month in office: 43%.