10% We Hardly Knew Ye
What happened to 9.9%? What happened to “less worse” numbers than feared?
What happened to my job?
The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest job losses over the month were in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade.
In October, the number of unemployed persons increased by 558,000 to 15.7 million. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 10.2 percent, the highest rate since April 1983. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 8.2 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 5.3 percentage points.
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The breaking of the psychological barrier of double-digit unemployment is a watershed moment for the Obama administration. It has continued to claim success in its Porkulus effort with shell-game “saved or created” metrics for jobs while unemployment rises unabated. Meanwhile, Obama pushed Congress to spend trillions of dollars we don’t have on efforts that have nothing to do with employment or revitalizing the economy. Even the latest CNN poll shows a 17-point swing to the worse for Obama on economics.
This is now Obama’s economy. He owns the double-digit unemployment level, having bought it with the $787 billion stimulus plan that he promised would keep unemployment no higher than 8%.
Unemployment didn’t just rise; it shot up like a geyser.
This is too cynical even for me to say (but not to write, I guess), but the Obama administration must be (unconsciously) pleased that there is a bigger headline than this catastrophic news.
Chrystal K. said,
November 6, 2009 @ 7:40 pm
I hope things get better from here.
Buck O'Fama said,
November 6, 2009 @ 8:25 pm
A recession is when you lose your job. A recovery is when Obama, Pelosi and Reid lose theirs.