Unemployment at a Four Year Low

[Crystal]

Seems the economy might be starting to pick up. Unemployment is at the lowest it has been since 2008:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/steady-job-gains-seen-bolstering-050326261.html

[Scout]

Thanks for the info Crystal!!

[Country Kids]

Isn't though this do to the Obama care thing?

Isn't it something like for every full-time person that they cut hours for, they pick up a part-time person? So instead of full-time employees they will have two part-time employees? I can see how it looks like the unemployment rate is rising but its with part-time work, not full-time.

We have a place close to us that is hiring 400 people (part-time at 10.00 an hour). Not enough to live on and won't that just make more people have to apply for assistance?

[daycarediva]

Sorry, but I know people who work in the two different states dept of labor. Unemployment is at a 4 year low because they just cut hundreds of thousands of people off in each state. It does NOT mean that they are now employed. It was done to make numbers look good, end of story.

[Crystal]

Sorry, but I know people who work in the two different states dept of labor. Unemployment is at a 4 year low because they just cut hundreds of thousands of people off in each state. It does NOT mean that they are now employed. It was done to make numbers look good, end of story.

The statistics in the article show an increase in HIRING

[daycarediva]

Yes, and as a pp said, for PT work. I know way too much inside information to ever believe anything else.

[mom2many]

The statistics in the article show an increase in HIRING

But like Country said, How many of these hired are for part time jobs? I know many people that are facing this issue. YES, they can get a job...just not one that will support them w/o additional financial assistance.

[Blackcat31]

The unemployment rate fell to 7.7% in February, in part because the labor force shrank by 130,000. The drop in the unemployment rate to a four-year low isn't necessarily great news.

About 40% of unemployed people have been out of work longer than six months, far more than at any time since the Great Depression.

It stands to reason that many people who’ve been unemployed that long without finding a new job would simply give up, drop out of the labor force and no longer be counted as officially unemployed.

But we can’t pretend they don’t exist

The participation rate is currently 63.5%, down from 66.2% at the beginning of the recession, matching a 31-year low. If the participation rate were still at 66.2%, the unemployment rate would be 12.1%.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-the-unemployment-rate-is-so-misleading-2013-03-08?pagenumber=1

The method used for calculating the unemployment rate is not just cut and dry. There is so much more to it.

Millions of people leave the work force due to retirement or death. Which causes the unemployment rate to "appear" to have gone down.

I guess if this little bit of information (no matter how mis-construed) can give people hope that our economy is doing better, then that is great. But I most certainly will not be bringing out the party favors or celebrating anytime soon.

[Cat Herder]

Don't forget all the forced early retirements.

[My3cents]

Isn't though this do to the Obama care thing?

Isn't it something like for every full-time person that they cut hours for, they pick up a part-time person? So instead of full-time employees they will have two part-time employees? I can see how it looks like the unemployment rate is rising but its with part-time work, not full-time.

We have a place close to us that is hiring 400 people (part-time at 10.00 an hour). Not enough to live on and won't that just make more people have to apply for assistance?

Exactly!!! You have part timers you don't have to pay insurance, and benefits.

We need more job creation for the average Joe to be able to make a living, not everyone wants these jobs that you have to have a degree for, and those that are getting the higher education can't find work. Used to be you could have a job to pay the bills and take on another job to have fun money, now you need two jobs, three jobs just to be able to put that food on your table and never mind any money to be able to put into the home you own. I have to step down from this or it will just send me into a weekend tornado.... going to try hard to read and not respond...try-

[MaryM]

Exactly!!! You have part timers you don't have to pay insurance, and benefits.

We need more job creation for the average Joe to be able to make a living, not everyone wants these jobs that you have to have a degree for, and those that are getting the higher education can't find work. Used to be you could have a job to pay the bills and take on another job to have fun money, now you need two jobs, three jobs just to be able to put that food on your table and never mind any money to be able to put into the home you own. I have to step down from this or it will just send me into a weekend tornado.... going to try hard to read and not respond...try-

This is so true! The cost of everything keeps going up & up & wages & jobs shrink & shrink! I want to bawl everytime I buy groceries....the 2nd largest bill to my mortgage payment! (I have GOT to get the whole matching sales & coupons down, just have to find the time!). Respond away-the voices of reason need to be heard! 😉

[Unregistered]

The unemployment thing.....the percentages are never true. They do not reflect those who have ran out of unemployment and are no longer on the system. They do not reflect those who are working a part time job and no longer qualify for unemployment. They do not reflect those who work a minimum wage job now when they had a $15 per hour job before....the underemployed. The numbers are so sketchy.

[Unregistered]

Exactly!!! You have part timers you don't have to pay insurance, and benefits.

We need more job creation for the average Joe to be able to make a living, not everyone wants these jobs that you have to have a degree for, and those that are getting the higher education can't find work. Used to be you could have a job to pay the bills and take on another job to have fun money, now you need two jobs, three jobs just to be able to put that food on your table and never mind any money to be able to put into the home you own. I have to step down from this or it will just send me into a weekend tornado.... going to try hard to read and not respond...try-

Those types of jobs have been on the decline since the 1970's. When I graduated from high school in the 90's the message was already very much "study hard, get a degree." Now this recession has hit hard, but those with just a HS diploma and those without are having the hardest time according to the stats. I guess I am not really surprised by it, it's been a long time coming.

[Country Kids]

Those types of jobs have been on the decline since the 1970's. When I graduated from high school in the 90's the message was already very much "study hard, get a degree." Now this recession has hit hard, but those with just a HS diploma and those without are having the hardest time according to the stats. I guess I am not really surprised by it, it's been a long time coming.

Sometimes you have to wonder about the stats though.

Personal experience: Hubby worked for same company for 17 years and his portion closed their doors. He worked his way up from a shift worker to management/supervisor. No degree

When he was laid off most everyone chose going back to school but him. He actually received a job with the state working in civil matters and was promoted to a Court facilitator/domestic courts within 9 months-no degree

He was there two years and out of the blue received a call from a company that he intervviewed with in 2010 that was offering him a management position higher then what he originally held at the other company. He did take it-no degree

Most people I know with a degree don't even actually work in the field they received their degree in or if its in the field its not the actual job they went to school for. The jobs for those actual degrees are getting less in less.

Also, I know of people attending college right now that are pretty much unhirable (at least in our area). Most places here have started telling people in college that because of school schedules it makes them to unhirable at the moment (they don't want to work around a schedule that isn't the same everyday).