It's the Media, Stupid
Due to the upcoming presidential election, the monthly jobs numbers, which always affect the market, have taken on a much higher level of importance. There is much talk, primarily among those who oppose President Obama, that the numbers are manipulated and don't present a clear picture of the actual jobs situation. The response from Obama supporters is that it is ludicrous to claim that the Labor Department is massaging the data, and some even go so far to claim that such views are driven by racial prejudice.
I don't question the Labor Department numbers, but I do question the way the media looks at them. If you consider the U-6 rate, which includes discouraged job hunters as well as those who work part-time but want full-time employment, rather than the U-3 rate, which is what the press reports, things look much different. As I wrote earlier, the big drop in the U-3 rate is due to a big increase in part-time employment, but the U-6 rate didn't change at all because these are lousy part-time jobs that people are taking while they continue to hunt for full-time employment....163 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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