The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows a drop in unemployment in November which is logical due to temporary Christmas hirings. A closer look at the numbers, however, show that there was actually a loss of employment from October to November.
Mainstream media (msm) reports have focused on the “doctored up” figure of 8.3%, as shown on BLS Table A-2, while a little digging shows a figure of 10.2% unemployment, down from 10.5% in October, as shown on BLS Table A-15.
The msm also overlooks the fact that the total number of people employed dropped by 200k, from 65,859k in October to 65,649k in November yet somehow, inexplicably, the percentage of those unemployed also decreased by 0.2%.
The number of unemployed people reportedly dropped by 128k from October to November. Add this to the 200k less employed persons and the total comes to 328k less people employed in November than in October.
So where does the 0.2% decrease in unemployment come from?
Those listed as “Not in labor force” increased by 419k people from October to November. The “Civilian labor force” reported by BLS has decreased by 339k from October to November.
Subtract the 328k loss in employment from the 419k loss to the labor force and you end up with 91k, which is 0.14% of the labor force reported in November.
The remainder of the difference can be chalked up to using more exact figures than the rounded off numbers provided by the BLS and then rounding up the percentage. The figures given have all been rounded to the nearest thousand.
Another inaccuracy in the figures is that Table A-15 shows the “official unemployment rate” as 8.6% for November, down from 9% in October, while Table A-2 has the figure at 8.3% and 8.5% respectively.
With this in mind, consider the figures from September to October, where there was reportedly a gain in employment of 198k jobs and a loss of only 41k reported “Not in labor force”. The BLS also reports a 0.2% decrease in unemployment from September to October, exactly the same as from October to November.
Considering this, there is no doubt that the figures are being manipulated in order to arrive at a predetermined conclusion.
With President Obama’s approval numbers in the 40’s coming into an election year, an unchallenged, fictitious reduction in unemployment numbers may be just the boost he needs.
As published on Examiner.com.