February 07, 2011 10:45 PM UTC

The ugly truth behind Friday's (Jan) jobs report

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• by: Denver Unemployment Examiner

Following Friday’s release of the January jobs report there has been much ‘ado’ (not adieu) about the rapidly sinking unemployment rate.   The Denver Post (from a widely distributed AP report) wrote,

“The unemployment rate is suddenly sinking at the fastest pace in half a century, falling to 9 percent from 9.8% in just two month – the most encouraging sign for the job market since the recession technically ended.

More than half a million people found work in January.  A government survey found weak hiring by big companies, but more people appear to be working for themselves or finding jobs at small businesses.

…Unemployment has not been this low since 2009.”

Now, contrast these statements [facts which are largely omitted from most other reports] with the following from the HuffPost report, ‘Missing Workers: 4.9 Million Out Of Work And Forgotten’ in which Lila Shapiro writes,

“Over the last three years, nearly 5 million U.S. workers have effectively gone missing.

You won’t find their photos on the backs of milk cartons. The Coast Guard isn’t out looking for them. No missing-persons reports have been filed. These are jobless Americans who have grown so discouraged by their unsuccessful searches for work that they have simply given up the hunt. They are no longer counted among the 14.5 million Americans officially considered unemployed as of the end of last year, according to the Department of Labor.

In January, the percentage of Americans who were either employed or actively looking for work fell to 64.2 percent, what economist Heidi Shierholz calls “a stunning new low for the recession.” Shierholz estimates that 4.9 million Americans are left out of the Department of Labor’s official unemployment count because they are too discouraged to continue seeking work.”

Denver Unemployment Examiner

In his op-ed ‘The Jobs Report, and America’s Two Economies’ , former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote,

“…today’s employment report should be sending alarm bells all over official Washington. Granted, unusually bad weather may have accounted for some of the reluctance of employers to hire in January. But even considering the weather, the economy is still terribly sick. (Technical note: The official rate of unemployment fell to 9 percent from 9.4 percent, but that’s because more workers have left the labor market, too discouraged to continue looking for work. The official rate reflects how many people are actively looking for work.)

We have two economies. The first is in recovery. The second remains in a continuous depression.

The first is a professional, college-educated, high-wage economy centered in New York and Washington, that’s living well off of global corporate profits. Corporations continue to make money by selling abroad from their foreign operations while cutting costs (especially labor) here at home. Wall Street is making money by taking the Fed’s free money and speculating with it. The richest 10 percent of Americans, holding 90 percent of all financial assets, are riding the wave. And their upscale spending has given high-end retailers and producers a bounce.

The second is most of the rest of America, and it’s still struggling with a mountain of debt, declining home prices, and job losses. In coming months most Americans will also be contending with sharply rising prices of food and fuel.

Our representatives in Washington see and hear mostly the first economy. The business press reports mainly on the first economy. Corporate and Wall Street economists are concerned largely with the first economy.

Read the full article at

Denver Unemployment Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/unempl…