Pretty fucked:
Bah, humbug and labor statistics
By SpenglerThe unemployment rate in the United States fell to 10% from 10.2% in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday, which means that the real unemployment rate (including those who have stopped looking for work, or can’t find full-time work) fell to 17.2% from 17.5%. In addition, employers polled by the BLS reduced payrolls by 11,000 workers, rather than the 150,000 or so that economists expected.
Supposedly, this reflects economic recovery. I don’t believe a word of it . . . . [T]he labor force participation rate continues to plunge, as prospective workers leave the workforce.
. . . . .
The level of un- and underemployment is so huge by historical standards as to make the usual sort of measurement questionable. With nearly 20% of the population unable to find proper work, there is a different sort of workforce. The vast majority of job creation in the U.S. during the past two generations came from small businesses, which display only vaguely on the radar of government agencies as well as the bigger private surveys. The financial crisis killed small entrepreneurs as surely as Joseph Stalin killed the kulaks, and the roots of the economy are dead and dry.
Via American Digest.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The big thing that worries me is the discrepancy between the stock market (going up) and the long term bad economic news (also increasing). Something is out of sync.
Something has to break.
Nah, the stock market going up makes sense. Those companies have cut the most expensive item on their books (labor) and are well positioned for the rocky road ahead.
Barring a sudden recovery, they’ll be able to restock their labor force as necessary and not have to over pay for it. Is that good for the rest of us? no.
Agreed.
We are in an economic toilet thanks to the Democrats and Obama’s getting ready to jiggle the handle with his insane health care power grab.