White House: Jobs Report Shows Economy Is ‘Continuing to Heal’
EmailIn its first reaction to this morning’s jobs report, the White House says the latest figures provide “further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal” but that the pace of recovery is still not fast enough.
The Labor Department announced today that the unemployment rate in November fell 0.4 percentage points to 8.6 percent, “the lowest unemployment rate since March 2009,” Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Alan Krueger writes in a White House blog. The report shows the nation’s employers added 120,000 jobs last month. Krueger also notes that the economy has added private sector jobs for 21 straight months. “Nonetheless, we need faster growth to put more Americans back to work,” he writes.
Krueger goes on to argue that the president’s $447 billion America Jobs Act “is the right medicine to sustain and strengthen the recovery.”
“In particular, with 13.3 million Americans still unemployed, and 43 percent of them unemployed for 6 months or longer, it would be a setback for the economy and American families if Congress were to allow extended unemployment benefits to expire at the end of the year. The president’s proposal to extend and expand the payroll tax cut for workers and small businesses also would provide a substantial boost to economic growth and job creation,” he says.
As it does every month, the White House notes that the monthly unemployment numbers are “volatile” and that “it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”
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Thank Heavens the republicans took control of the House to cause this recovery. Get rid of the democrats in the Senate and especially throw out Obama and this country will recover.
Posted by: trish | December 2, 2011, 10:57 am 10:57 am
In their typical “cover for the President at all costs” ABC forgot to report the REAL reason the unemployment rate went down. Over 300,000 DROPPED OUT of looking for employment. More Obama math.
Posted by: wheresmymoney | December 2, 2011, 10:59 am 10:59 am
Mary Bruce,
You seemed to have forgotten to include that the reason unemployment dropped 0.4% is due to 315,000 discouraged workers exiting the workforce (discouraged workers not included in unemployment estimates). Must have slipped your mind, huh?
When you are updating your report perhaps you can include the following: “The participation rate dropped to 64 percent, from 64.2 percent in October, representing 315,000 fewer job-seekers.”
Are you a journalist or an Obama campaign spokeswoman? I do not have a problem if you are the latter, but would appreciate transparency on your part.
Thank you.
Posted by: tjp612 | December 2, 2011, 11:02 am 11:02 am
Yeah and inflation is also undercontrol also despite $100/barrel oil and the highest per annum food cost increase in years. It all depends on how one computes the data.
Posted by: newcountryman | December 2, 2011, 11:06 am 11:06 am
There are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Posted by: newcountryman | December 2, 2011, 11:06 am 11:06 am
“White House: Jobs Report Shows Economy Is ‘Continuing to Heal’”
Meanwhile, 400,000 more people claimed unemployment to add to the 15 million already unemployed, and the millions more who aren’t counted because they couldn’t draw unemployment.
Posted by: Dave | December 2, 2011, 11:17 am 11:17 am
The real news not being covered is how the Democrats tried last night to fundamentally
try to change Social security. Putting it on the backs of Millionaires will cutting the tax rate on the people who live off it in retirement. That sur-charge to millionaires was to
be permanent. Redistribution of wealth at it finest. What they won’t mention, those
Millionaire business owners will pass it back to you in benefit cuts, Salary freezes and
and job cuts. Business owners are not out to make themselves poor. We have the federal government for that.
Posted by: deadwrestler | December 2, 2011, 11:17 am 11:17 am
Posted by: wheresmymoney | December 2, 2011, 10:59 am 10:59 am
Exactly.
From the BLS today…
10/2011 civilian labor force: 154,198,000
11/2011 civilian labor force: 153,883,000
The labor force pool is 315,000 people smaller than it was the previous month, thus the slight dip in the unemployment rate. The participation rate dropped to 64% from 64.2% in October. Our labor force is not growing, which means our economy can’t grow. Obama and Krueger can spin all they want. The federal government’s own numbers prove Obama’s policies don’t work.
Posted by: Mary | December 2, 2011, 11:24 am 11:24 am
120,000 jobs added but many gave up searching also. Let us not forget these jobs are probably temporary Christmas jobs.
Posted by: phantomniter | December 2, 2011, 11:26 am 11:26 am
newcountryman wrote:”There are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
.
Or in this case you could call it lies, damned lies, and ABC “News” parroting oBama White House reports.
Posted by: Michelle Shu Jas | December 2, 2011, 11:28 am 11:28 am
phantomniter (11:26 AM); Quit being so analytical for goodness sake!
Posted by: newcountryman | December 2, 2011, 11:55 am 11:55 am
The real news that isn’t being covered is how yesterday the House, i.e. republicans, voted to get rid of the EAC, an election oversight agency created after the disputed 2000 presidential election. Gee, I wonder what motivates the GOP to wish to see that gone. Could it be the desire to rig elections?
Posted by: lexingtonlady | December 2, 2011, 11:57 am 11:57 am
They will say anything to protect Obama! The liberals know its going to take 30 years to repair the damage Obama has done to the economy!
Posted by: BIG JIMMY | December 2, 2011, 12:11 pm 12:11 pm
Of course the economy is still not as good as it was in the early 2000′s. The economy really took a dive in 2008 and we came close to a depression. There still are not enough jobs, but at least we’re adding jobs compared to 2007/2008 when every month the country was losing jobs.
We still have a long way to go and it will take years. Doesn’t matter who is in WH, the process will take years.
Posted by: raggmopp | December 2, 2011, 12:13 pm 12:13 pm
Not so fast Mr. Government! According to CNBC:
“Overall, the continued modest employment gains reflect an economy that plods along at an uninspiring pace,” Kathy Bostjancic, director of macroeconomic analysis at The Conference Board, said in a statement. “These modest job gains are still not enough to propel economic growth to a sustainable 2 percent-plus growth path.”
” . . . economists were treating the rate drops with skepticism.
“When the unemployment rate declines, we want to see both employment and participation increase as discouraged workers return to the labor force. Today, we got the former, but not the latter, making the 0.4 percent drop look a bit suspect,” Neil Dutta, US economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, told clients. “We would not be surprised to see the unemployment rate give back some of its decline in the coming month(s).”
Posted by: EPU | December 2, 2011, 12:24 pm 12:24 pm
raggmopp wrote:”There still are not enough jobs, but at least we’re adding jobs compared to 2007/2008 when every month the country was losing jobs. ….”Doesn’t matter who is in WH,”
.
Who’s in the WH doesn’t matter? Maybe not as much… but it does matter who is in Congress. Ask yourself what changed in 2007/2008 when every month the country was losing job. See if the names Nancy and Harry ring a bell.
Posted by: Michelle Shu Jas | December 2, 2011, 12:27 pm 12:27 pm
Yes it is continuing to heal despite all the roadblocks put there by the republican party. Things would be a lot better if they had voted yes on putting people back to work on infrastructure which the republicans were for before they were against it…if they would pass some of the things Obama wants to do instead of stalling and creating roadblocks. If they pass the continuation of the tax cuts for the middle income people and if they ignored their pledge to a lobbyist Norquest who was, incidentally, at the meeting yesterday remind some GOPers that they had signed a pledge and should not vote to raise taxes on millionnaires because 1.he is a millionnaire and 2. many of the republicans fall on the side of the rich rather than the poor as they income is 25%higher than the democrats as a whole. Mr. Mc Connell announced to the world a year ago that the goal of the GOP is to defeat Obama and that actually started the second week of his administration when Hannity said the republicans will never work with him. Yet, he passed a health care bill which is good despite what reps. say, he accomplished DADT. killed Osama Bin Laden, helped rid Gadafi and other terrorists and made equal pay for men and women and a whole hosts of other things which they do not like to discuss. People seem to forget that it was Bush who first bailed out the banks and Obama and MC Cain did not want to but went along in the interest of the country….something the republicans have not done yet……nothing in the interests of the country….just the party….
Posted by: Talmag | December 2, 2011, 12:28 pm 12:28 pm
Well Lexington lady,if that upset you, I am sure that having Horse back on the Menu
is also hard to swallow. We can thank congress for that, but we also can thank
the President who SIGNED, the bill.
Posted by: deadwrestler | December 2, 2011, 12:31 pm 12:31 pm
“There still are not enough jobs, but at least we’re adding jobs compared to 2007/2008 when every month the country was losing jobs.”
Posted by: raggmopp | December 2, 2011, 12:13 pm 12:13 pm
What part of “our labor force is shrinking while our population is growing” don’t you understand? The number of people who dropped out of the labor force last month (315,000) was higher than the number of jobs added (120,000). Meanwhile, our population continues to grow putting more pressure on the federal budget.
Posted by: Mary | December 2, 2011, 12:37 pm 12:37 pm
We can get back to a 5% unemployment rate if 5-10 million more people give up and stop looking for work.
Pres Barry is hoping that next November that people look up the unemployment figures in the newspaper, and then say it’s under 8%, I guess I must vote for Pres Barry.
The numbers can be manipulated, as we see, and they do not mean anything.
Do people have better paying jobs? Are more people on food stamps? That is real and can not be manipulated by fuzzy math into more votes next year.
Real Estate & Homes are worth now what they were ten years ago. Can Pres Barry fix that for the next election?
Posted by: bl | December 2, 2011, 12:42 pm 12:42 pm
“Yes it is continuing to heal despite all the roadblocks put there by the republican party.”
Posted by: Talmag | December 2, 2011, 12:28 pm 12:28 pm
Republicans? LOL! The creation of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of energy-related jobs are being held up by Obama (Keystone pipeline, Ohio shale gas, etc.). He’s doing it on purpose. His stated goal in 2008 was to implement policies to make energy prices “necessarily skyrocket.” Railing against the GOP isn’t going to pay your energy bill.
The top 1% has done much better under Obama than they did under Bush. Just ask Nancy Pelosi.
Posted by: Mary | December 2, 2011, 12:43 pm 12:43 pm
LMAO!…Obama’s hovering right at around the same unemployment rate that Ronald Reagan was at 35 months into his presidency (November 1983 = 8.5%). Even yet and sure enough, the Republi-minions would all say that Reagan’s November 1983 rate was real, but argue about this data for Obama. … LOL! … what a bunch of Losers Republicans have become (with “BIG L’s” on their foreheads).
Posted by: Republicans = a BUNCH of Forrest Gumps | December 2, 2011, 12:49 pm 12:49 pm
Posted by: Talmag | December 2, 2011, 12:28 pm 12:28 pm
787 Billion Stimulus – Obama, “Those shovel ready jobs weren’t exactly shovel ready.”
WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER UNION HANDOUT DISGUISED AS A JOBS BILL.
Continued tax cuts – Social Security is in trouble. WHY IS OBAMA TRYING TO COMPOUND THAT PROBLEM BY TAKING MORE MONEY AWAY FROM SOCIAL SECURITY?
Republicans = rich – You do realize that Wall Street bankers have had RECORD profits under Obama, correct? You also know he received record campaign contributions from them, correct?
Ad nauseum, you repeat McConnell’s statement. Why don’t you bring up Obama’s, “If they bring a knife, we will bring a gun?” HE IS PROMOTING VIOLENCE.
The MAJORITY of the country still doesn’t want Obamacare. But the Dems with their supermajority voted it in anyway.
Noone has forgotten Bush and TARP. It doesn’t excuse the awful decisions Obama has made.
Posted by: wheresmymoney | December 2, 2011, 12:54 pm 12:54 pm
The only job Obama is trying to save is his own!
Posted by: BIG JIMMY | December 2, 2011, 12:57 pm 12:57 pm
I have to laugh at the idiocy of those who think obama compares with Reagan, when obamas poll numbers are lower than carters at the same point in his presidency. Talk about moronic thinking!
Sad, truly sad.
Posted by: jonny | December 2, 2011, 12:58 pm 12:58 pm
About time, it has only been in freefall since Democrats took control of Congress, now that Republicans are at least a majority in 1/2 the legislature they can stop Obama and his reckless spending.
Posted by: nobama12 | December 2, 2011, 1:21 pm 1:21 pm
The President has always said that this recovery was going to be a long slow process. If he gets a democratic majority in both houses of Congress the recovery will go much faster.
Let the republicans worry about how their grand children will pay the debt 40 years from now on their own time.
Posted by: tmferretti | December 2, 2011, 1:21 pm 1:21 pm
Ever notice how no Democrat can just debate issues without resorting to childish name calling and insults? And you “Republicans = a BUNCH of Forrest Gumps” are about the worst. Grow up and stick to issues for once
Posted by: DASMF | December 2, 2011, 1:27 pm 1:27 pm
The republicans always have used the national debt as an obstruction when they’re out of power. When they’re in the WH they spend like drunken sailors (sorry sailors, at least you have a drunk excuse). Cutting spending now, in a recession, is foolish and won’t create job one. If anything it will destroy jobs.
Posted by: tmferretti | December 2, 2011, 1:34 pm 1:34 pm
Posted by: tmferretti | December 2, 2011, 1:21 pm 1:21 pm
You said ” If he gets a democratic majority in both houses of Congress the recovery will go much faster.” Sorry to point this out but he already had that and things got worse it was not until Democrats “LOST” the majority in one house and Republicans could keep him in check that things started to get better.
Posted by: nobama12 | December 2, 2011, 1:36 pm 1:36 pm
Republicans = A Bunch, 315,000 is over TWICE the amount of jobs that were added (120,000). 120,000 divided by a workforce of 153,883,000 = 0.00078 EVEN LESS OF AN IMPACT ON THE WORKFORCE NUMBER. Yet, with Obama math, we now supposedly have 8.6% unemployment.
If you want to call something miniscule, try 120,000.
315,000 people A MONTH dropping out of the workforce does not help the economy.
Posted by: wheresmymoney | December 2, 2011, 1:43 pm 1:43 pm
POSTED BY: MARY | DECEMBER 2, 2011, 11:24 AM posted: “The federal government’s own numbers prove Obama’s policies don’t work.”
While I agree these jobs numbers do not reflect the serious levels of under employed, under paid, and under reported, can you provide us with a definition for “success”?
Just curious to discover how you believe this recession damaged economy – the deepest and most severe in most Americans’ memories – can recover faster than the shallower recessions we’ve experienced since WWII under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
Posted by: green.goddess | December 2, 2011, 2:13 pm 2:13 pm
NOBAMA
In his first two years at least he helped get the recession under control, with no help from the republicans who used the filibuster to delay and obstruct everything. We stopped loosing 1/2 million jobs a month and the financial sector re-adjusted. I think those thousands of auto workers who kept their jobs would disagree with you.
We can always go back to the Bush administration policies if you prefer.
Posted by: tmferretti | December 2, 2011, 2:58 pm 2:58 pm
If it did it was nothing he or his administration did. You Obama lovers must be getting a big check from the government or unions, your certainly not out here in the real world.
Posted by: Freedom | December 2, 2011, 3:19 pm 3:19 pm
“Just curious to discover how you believe this recession damaged economy – the deepest and most severe in most Americans’ memories – can recover faster than the shallower recessions we’ve experienced since WWII under both Democratic and Republican administrations.”
Under this President I don’t. I expect a depression.
Posted by: foggy | December 2, 2011, 3:32 pm 3:32 pm
If it did it was nothing he or his administration did.
POSTED BY: FREEDOM | DECEMBER 2, 2011, 3:19 PM 3:19 PM
Of course not! The President can only be BLAMED for things going wrong, NOT given any credit for things going right. We know how it works.
Posted by: Jenny | December 2, 2011, 3:33 pm 3:33 pm
Yes the democrats controlled ALL 3 branches of the government in the first 2 years and got us 4 TRILLION deeper in debt. Is that what you call recovery?
Posted by: Lizzie | December 2, 2011, 5:21 pm 5:21 pm
Jonny wrote, “I have to laugh at the idiocy of those who think obama compares with Reagan, when obamas poll numbers are lower than carters at the same point in his presidency. Talk about moronic thinking!”
Yes Jonny, according to Gallup’s weekly averages, at day 1,041 in office Obama’s approval rating was 43%. Carter, at the same point in his presidency, was riding a temporary spike which had him at 51%. He would continue to climb to 58% which Reagan was unable to surpass at that point. In fact, at day 1,086 in office, Carter was at 58% while Reagan was at just 52%. So Jonny, will you be back here in January when we can compare Reagan’s poor showing to Carter’s spike?
Bottom line is Reagan’s career low was 35% and Carter’s was 28%. Obama has yet to sink below 40%. Let’s compare those numbers before we talk about moronic thinking.
Posted by: R. Perry | December 2, 2011, 6:05 pm 6:05 pm
Yes the democrats controlled ALL 3 branches of the government in the first 2 years and got us 4 TRILLION deeper in debt. Is that what you call recovery?
POSTED BY: LIZZIE | DECEMBER 2, 2011, 5:21 PM 5:21 PM
Poor Lizzie. Think a little dear . .. do you have any idea of the effects of a major economic collapse on ongoing deficits and debt of the country? Do you recall the economy was in free-fall collapse when Obama became president? Think.
Posted by: Cranium | December 2, 2011, 6:37 pm 6:37 pm
Most of these jobs are janitors.
Posted by: young_voter | December 2, 2011, 11:35 pm 11:35 pm
CRANIUM, youre right, the economy took a nose dive as soon as it became apparent that there will be a DEMOCRAT in the highest office. Look at history happens every time.
Posted by: Lizzie | December 3, 2011, 11:35 am 11:35 am