The first two columns below are from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). I added the last column to account for the 1.2 million people whom the government considers to have “fell out of the labor force”.
| Category | Jan. 2012 | Jan. 2012 with 1.2 million not deducted |
| Employment status | ||
| Civilian noninstitutional population | 242,269,000 | |
| Civilian labor force | 154,395,000 | 154,395,000 |
| Participation rate | 63.70% | |
| Employed | 141,637,000 | |
| Employment-population ratio | 58.50% | |
| Unemployed | 12,758,000 | 13,958,000 |
| Unemployment rate | 8.30% | 9.04% |
| Not in labor force | 87,874,000 |
If the government manipulates the figure used for the “Unemployed” in the Civilian labor force each month, they can make the official unemployment rate anything that the American people will believe with the help of the media.
This chart from Zerohedge.com shows the manipulation of the labor force participation rate under the Obama administration.
The stock market is nearing a four year high and the price of gold is off 0.89% on this news of the “unexpected” drop in unemployment. The media is also ignoring the part time vs. full time jobs in BLS report, but this excerpt from Zerohedge.com clarifies this reality:
So the epic January number of 141.6 million employed, which rose by 847K at the headline level: only about 10 % of that was full time jobs: surely an indicator of the resurgent US economy… in which employers can’t even afford to give their workers full time employee benefits. We can’t wait for Mr. Liesman to explain how this number, too, is unadulterated hogwash, and how it too is explained away to confirm economic strength.
Imagine the impact on full time jobs once Obamacare takes effect.
David DeGerolamo
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