94,103,000 Americans Not in Labor Force

Labor Force Participation Improves Slightly; 94,103,000 Americans Not in Labor Force

cnsnews.com

(AP File Photo)

(CNSNews.com) - The number of Americans not in the labor force last month totaled 94,103,000 -- a slight improvement from the 94,446,000 not in the labor force in November--and the labor force participation rate increased a tenth of a point, with 62.6 percent of the civilian noninstitutional population either holding a job or actively seeking one.

For all of 2015, the highest labor participation rate was 62.9 percent in January: the lowest was 62.4 percent in September, and that 62.4 percent was the lowest in 38 years.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the economy added 292,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent -- for the third month in a row.

In December, according to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population, consisting of all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 251,936,000. Of those,157,833,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.

The 157,833,000 who participated in the labor force equaled 62.6 percent of the 251,936,000 civilian noninstitutional population.

Ahead of this month's unemployment numbers, the Labor Department released an article examining why people who are not in the labor force are not working.

It found that in 2014, 87.4 million people 16 years and older neither worked nor looked for work at any time during that year.

Of this group, 38.5 million people reported retirement as the main reason for not working. About 16.3 million people were ill or had a disability, and 16.0 million were attending school. Another 13.5 million people cited home responsibilities as the main reason for not working in 2014, and 3.1 million individuals gave “other reasons.”  

The self-reported reasons that people gave for not being in the labor force varied by age and gender, and the analysis includes charts comparing the reasons given by various worker groups in both 2004 and 2014.

Other notes from the December jobs report:

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for blacks declined to 8.3 percent in December, while the rates for adult men (4.7 percent), adult women (4.4 percent), teenagers (16.1 percent), whites (4.5 percent), Asians (4.0 percent), and Hispanics (6.3 percent) showed little or no change.

-- The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 2.1 million in December and accounted for 26.3 percent of the unemployed. The number of long-term unemployed has shown little movement since June, but was down by 687,000 over the year.

-- The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed at 6.0 million in December but was down by 764,000 over the year. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

-- In December, 1.8 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, down by 427,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

-- Among the marginally attached, there were 663,000 discouraged workers in December, littlechanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.2 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in December had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Also See:Growing Number of Men, Ages 25-54, Say 'Home Responsibilities' Keep Them Out of the WorkforceBLS: Less Educated People More Likely to Claim Illness or Disability As Reason for Not Working 

COMMENTS

second-best year for American workers since 1999 and further evidence of a resilient job market

Payrolls in U.S. Rise More Than Projected, Jobless Rate at 5%

www.bloomberg.com

Payroll growth surged in December after stronger job gains the prior two months, capping the second-best year for American workers since 1999 and further evidence of a resilient job market that prompted the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

The 292,000 advance exceeded the highest forecast in a Bloomberg survey and followed a 252,000 increase in November that was stronger than previously estimated, a Labor Department report showed Friday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for 200,000. The jobless rate held at 5 percent, and wage growth rose less than forecast from a year earlier.

Such job-market durability indicates employers were sanguine about the economy’s prospects just before the recent rout in global financial markets. Fed policy makers are counting on tighter labor conditions to lead to broader increases in worker pay and inflation.

“Job creation was solid in December,” said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York and a former Fed economist. “This should calm some fears about the U.S. economy losing growth momentum. It’s reassuring in the backdrop of some recent economic reports that were weak.”

The December job gains, which were probably helped by mild winter weather across much of the country, were led by temporary-help services, health care, transportation and construction.

Labor Department revisions to prior reports added a total of 50,000 jobs to payrolls in the previous two months. For all of 2015, payrolls climbed by 2.65 million after 3.1 million in 2014 for the best back-to-back years for hiring since 1998-99.

Economists’ Forecasts

December payroll estimates of 92 economists in the Bloomberg survey ranged from gains of 135,000 to 250,000. November was initially reported as a 211,000 increase. The unemployment rate, which is derived from a separate survey of households, matched the median forecast.

With the latest jobs report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also issued revisions for data from the survey of households dating back to 2011. Payroll figures from the survey of employers will be revised when the January data is released Feb. 5. There were no revisions to the rates in any month last year, when unemployment averaged 5.3 percent.

While employers continue to aggressively add to headcounts, worker pay has yet to show a sustainable pickup. Average hourly earnings were unchanged from the prior month. They increased 2.5 percent over the 12 months ended in December. The median forecast called for a 2.7 percent year-over-year gain.

The advance, which was the biggest since October, was primarily due to an easy comparison with December 2014, when earnings fell 0.2 percent from the previous month. This so-called base effect will probably result in some payback with the January employment report when earnings come up against a strong January 2015 comparison.

The average workweek for all workers held in December at 34.5 hours.Another caveat about the wage and hours results: The Bureau of Labor Statistics found a processing error in the data from March 2006 through February 2009 and will issue corrected figures on Feb. 5.

The participation rate, which shows the share of working-age people in the labor force, increased to a four-month high of 62.6 percent from 62.5 percent.

Among measures of labor-market slack, the number of Americans who are working part time though would rather have a full time position, or the measure known as part-time for economic reasons, eased to 6.02 million from 6.09 million.

Underemployment Rate

The underemployment rate -- which includes part-time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want to work but have given up looking -- held at 9.9 percent.

Employment over the final three months of 2015 increased 284,000 on average, the most since January 2015.

Hiring gains last month were broad, with construction adding 45,000 jobs, health-care providers taking on 52,600 and temporary help services boosting headcounts by 34,400. Factories even added the most jobs -- 8,000 -- in five months.

Minutes of the Fed’s December meeting, when policy makers boosted their target rate for federal funds, showed participants acknowledged the improvement in labor market conditions. Many judged it as “substantial.”

“Members agreed that a range of recent labor market indicators, including ongoing job gains and declining unemployment, showed further improvement and confirmed that underutilization of labor resources had diminished appreciably since early this year,” according to the minutes, released on Wednesday. At the same time, Fed officials said there was room for slack to be absorbed and signaled further hikes in interest rates would occur gradually.

On Thursday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index capped its worst-ever four-day start to a year as turmoil in China spread around the world. Selling in global equities began in China, where shares fell 7 percent after the central bank weakened the yuan an eighth day. Crude settled at a 12-year low, and copper dipped below $2 for the first time since 2009.

COMMENTS

WARNING: Very Emotional - America is Rising - Mike Rowe Powerful Commercial. Pride

Former 'Dirty Jobs' host Mike Rowe narrates a powerful new Walmart commercial.

I Am A Factory - 60 Second Commercial.

ESPNNewYork.com columnist Rob Parker RACIST slam on Redskins starting quarterback Robert Griffin III’s

I am going to start this by quoting ESPNNewYork.com columnist Rob Parker the real CORNBALLER. A RACIST Parker blasted out at RG3 by saying, "if Griffin was “a brother, or is he a cornball brother?” and questioning both his reported Republicanism and his decision to become engaged to a white woman.
“I am an African-American in America,” Griffin told USA Today. “That will never change. But I don’t have to be defined by that. … We always try to find similarities in life, no matter what it is so they’re going to try to put you in a box with other African-American quarterbacks — Vick, Newton, Randall Cunningham, Warren Moon … That’s the goal. Just to go out and not try to prove anybody wrong but just let your talents speak for themselves.”

This is as bad as it gets.  Racist ignorant fools on parade at ESPN.  For this guy to still have a job come Monday morning will show how the Media is Sick Bias and its ok to slam a black man for having a white girlfriend and being a republican.  

New Jobs Numbers, AP/Yahoo! Show Liberal Bias

The new jobs numbers came out today, so liberal spin doctor, Christopher Rugaber at the AP launched a headline that the liberals at Yahoo.com were glad to prominently showcase on their front page"

"US economy adds 146K jobs, rate falls to 7.7 pct."

And for their sub heading:

"US economy adds 146K jobs; jobless rate falls to 4-year low of 7.7 percent; Sandy minor factor"

Well isn't that awesome? Well it WOULD be if these headlines really meant what they said. The truth is all over the body of the article and for at least that little bit of honesty, I give Rugaber a little bit of credit. 

He points out:

1.) "the unemployment rate fell to a four-year low in November from 7.9 percent in October mostly because more people stopped looking for work and weren't counted as unemployed."

OUCH.

2.) "The government noted that as long as employees worked at least one day during a pay period — two weeks for most people — its survey would have counted them as employed."

This is ridiculous. So an employer told me to come in twice last month to sweep up the floor and I am counted as employed?

3.) "Still, there were signs that the storm [Sandy] disrupted economic activity. Construction employment dropped 20,000. And weather prevented 369,000 people from getting to work — the most for any month in nearly two years. These workers were still counted as employed."

Besides the fact that this is more cooking of the books, am I the only one that finds it odd that a storm that destroys property would cause construction employment to drop? I digress...

4.) "In November, retailers added 53,000 positions. Temporary help companies added 18,000." 

So of the 146K jobs added, HALF of them are seasonal or temporary. This happens every year, so this cannot be unexpected. Yet the over-hyped headline seems to beg you to believe that these numbers are somehow great news.

5.) "...overall manufacturing jobs fell 7,000. That was pushed down by a loss of 12,000 jobs in food manufacturing that likely reflects the layoff of workers at Hostess."

Thank you, Organized Labor Unions.

So you can see that the FACTS in the article end up contradicting the tone of the headline, which is exactly what the propagandists on the left want you to believe. But on the outside chance the Kool-Aid drinkers actually read and understood the facts of the article, the author made sure to end it with not one but TWO excuses for Obama:

Excuse #1: Sandy - "The storm held back consumer spending and income, which drive economic growth. Consumer spending declined in October and work interruptions caused by Sandy reduced wages and salaries that month by about $18 billion at an annual rate, the government said." 

Excuse #2: Republicans not caving on Democrat demands to raise taxes, leading to what Obama propagandists call, The Fiscal Cliff - "Still, many say economic growth could accelerate next year if the fiscal cliff is avoided."

Mass Exodus of Jobs in America

  In order to create a new job a few things must come into play in order for this to happen.

1.  Healthy and growing economy
2. Augmentation of New Business
3. Expanding business to match consumer demand
4. Business Owner confidence in expansion

  So if you think about it business starts with Entrepreneurship and grows because of supply and demand from the consumer.  Government plays a key role because it will directly effect a business by regulation or deregulation. 
The best example of this in our history is during Ronald Reagan's presidency.  Reagan enacted lower marginal tax rates in conjunction with simplified income tax codes and continued deregulation.
What this means is that the Government got out of the way of Business to grow and prosper which actually created more jobs, more millionaires, and greater consumer and business confidence.  Lower taxes created more money for the Government as well because consumers and business had more money and didnt look for ways to evade taxes.  

Remember when you first got cable t.v. and were able to watch MTV or HBO ?  Stop and think for on minute and understand that the cable t.v. BOOM was because of one simple thing Reagan enacted...  DEREGULATION of the telephone and cable line.  In 1984, Congress passed the Cable Communications Policy Act. This created millions of new jobs and new inventions as well as new business and the American people were the beneficiary of deregulation.  It was so easy to get a job during the 1980's and 1990's.

What is going on in America today that is making it so hard to get a job ? 

1. Corporate bankruptcy has soared during Obama administration and no net growth.
2. New business filings are non-exsistant
3. Consumer demand is down due to many factors including 15% unemployment 
4. Obama HATES business owners and ran against them in his reelection and in the first week of his reelection he enacted over 6,100 new regulations.  

We need to get back to what the founding father believed which was small federal government and that the power lies with the states. They revolted against Britain because of regulations and taxes and when you have a federal government that is spending deficit of $120 billion dollars in the month of October 2012 that's just absolutely insane.