Lies, damn lies and unemployment stats

The gummint claimed last week that there are ONE MILLION more jobs than job-seekers. No, really:

The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings jumped 2.4 percent in December to 7.3 million. That is the most since records began in December 2000. It is also far greater than the number of unemployed, which stood at 6.3 million that month.

Well, as with other recent previous "ain't this economy grand" news, it needs to be debunked.

If you're over a certain age, under a certain lightness of skin tone, or outside of the boundaries of larger metropolitan areas, you're not getting any real job offers, are you? Nor is your current employer offering a raise to keep you in place, is he? That's especially true if you fall into two of three of these pigeonholes.

The Eehh-Pee does partially admit that.

Many industries with the biggest increases in job openings include mostly lower-paying jobs. Restaurants and hotels advertised more than 1 million jobs, 84,000 more than in November. Health care job postings rose 79,000 to 1.2 million.

So, there you go. Hate McDonald's? Go to Burger King or else become a wiper of other people's bottoms as a certified nursing assistant:



What else is really out there?

The U-6 unemployment rate is still above 8 percent, and with a half-point spike to be its highest in a full year. And, the "normal" unemployment rate gained a tenth of a percent again.

I've not linked to the BLS' U-3 rates. I don't think they're accurate on age, vis a vis U-6, and I can't quickly find a U-6 rate by either age or ethnicity. And the BLS doesn't at all do a good job on rural vs metro employment, or quality of jobs available by purchasing power parity.

That said, this last issue is why I oppose a $15/hour minimum wage nationwide, rather than something like Oregon's $15/$12/$10 for urban/suburban/rural areas. A $15/hour minimum wage nationally, let alone Ted Rall's $25/hour or whatever stupidity, would kill rural areas. Period. End of story.

Many of the "discouraged" unemployed — and many of the "frustrated" currently employed — have "soft skills" that are supposedly so valued.

But, as long as we have private "benefits" health insurance at escalating rates, employers don't want to hire people who they don't already have enserfed, too. Beyond THAT? Restaurants are notorious for "scheduling on demand." Beyond pay, that's another reason people don't want those jobs.

And, the same gummint claiming we have 1 million surplus jobs continues to lie about how fast the economy is growing and expected to grow.