Unemployment stats are a complete farce.

[TLA]

Heh, unemployment stats show that 85,000 NEW claims were filed in December. Isn't our economy supposed to be getting better? That's what the govt and the idiots in finance keep saying but it appears the economy is only better for big banks and insurance companies.

The economy is still losing jobs and will continue to do so as companies believe this fake recovery is to weak to be sustained so they don't hire new people or create new jobs.

This depression is being said as over, but it's not. When the govt housing credits go away housing will tank again. Remember, 25% of all homes are somewhere in the repossesion process or a payment away from the process starting. Way to many house and homes are in trouble because homeowners owe more than their house is currently worth so when the credits are gone housing is going to go down like runaway elevator crashing to the basement.

The unemployment rate stayed even in December, even though there was a rise in the number of people without jobs. That's because because 661,000 dropped out of the labor market entirely. That means they were no longer counted as unemployed. Isn't that a great govt trick to say that unemployment stayed the same. When you stop counting people who gave up looking for a job because they were so discouraged naturally the unemployment rate stayed the same. It's a trick of statistics rather than the truth about unemployment.

From the Bloomberg Report.

“The actual unemployment rate is higher than shown by the official numbers,” Bandholz said yesterday after a Labor Department report released in Washington showed the economy unexpectedly lost 85,000 jobs in December while the jobless rate was unchanged.

About 1.7 million Americans opted out of the workforce from July through December, representing a 1.1 percent drop that marks the biggest six-month decrease since 1961, the Labor Department report showed. The share of the population in the labor force last month fell to the lowest level in 24 years.

The so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- rose to 17.3 percent in December from 17.2 percent.

The number of discouraged workers, those not looking for work because they believe none is available, climbed to 929,000 last month, the most since records began in 1994."

Lol, still think things are getting better? It's now taking longer to find a job than it has since 1948 when these records started being kept. Right at 29 weeks. It now takes longer than 6 months to find a job and that's if you're one of the lucky few. BTW, good luck with your job hunt.