That was the headline in this AP story, followed by:
“The Labor Department's report Friday showed that the unemployment rate dropped a notch to 9.4 percent in July, from 9.5 percent the previous month. Together with slight increases in the average workweek and wages, the new figures suggested the economy is in a transition from recession to recovery.“
Unfortunately if you read down a bit there are these little nuggets:
“If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included the unemployment rate would have been 16.3 percent in July. All told, 14.5 million were out of work in July.
Job-seekers are finding it harder to get work because there are so few openings. A record 4.97 million people had been unemployed six months or longer in July. And the average length of unemployment grew to 25.1 weeks, also a record.”
So: “A net total of 247,000 jobs were lost last month, the fewest in a year and a drastic improvement from the 443,000 that vanished in June.”
We lose a quarter million jobs, which is going backwards isn’t it? And that is good because the ship is sinking slower? And a lot of people have just given up looking so they don’t count in the 9.4%? I’m not understanding what strong data is referred to in the headline.
What would the headline have been if George Bush were still President?
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