I wonder how the media will pretend this is bad news? The latest employment numbers are in and not only are they solid, but last month wasn't the catastrophe first reported.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced 110,000 jobs were created in September and 89,000 were created in August. The August number replaces the 4,000 jobs lost that were first reported. If you flash back to last month, you'll remember how much the media screamed about this. ABC was declaring the August numbers a sign of "new fears this morning about the state of our economy," said Bill Weir on September 8. That's how he lead off a downbeat "Good Morning America" story entitled "Road to Recession? Bleak Signals from Job Report."
It only got worse. "And now many are asking whether the disappointing employment figures, coupled with the housing crisis, may head us, have us headed for a serious economic downturn or even recession," worried Weir.
But the October 5 "American Morning" explained sets it all straight. Business reporter Ali Velshi called it "A big sigh of relief." Not only were the new numbers better than the 100,000 expected, but the previous numbers were revised.
The other key point is, remember last month, John, we talked about a 4,000 job loss when we were expecting a hundred thousand jobs to be created. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has now amended that. That is a common thing for them to do. They are now saying that 89,000 jobs were actually created in August. Not 4,000 jobs lost."
Velshi summed it up well: "So if you look at today's news it means that not only are things more positive in September, they were actually not as bad as we thought they were in August."
The networks have a bad history of distorting economic coverage of employment. Prior to the August numbers, in 47 straight months of job growth, the U.S. economy had created 8.3 million jobs. But despite that economic achievement, the media have consistently presented employment news and the overall economy negatively in the past four years.
In a January 2006 study, The Business & Media Institute found ABC, CBS and NBC focused more on job losses in 2005, even though 2 million new jobs were added. The networks focused on job losses in slightly more than half the reports (76 out of 151). Just 35 percent of the stories addressed job gains (53 out of 151).
—Dan Gainor is director of the Business and Media Institute.















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Economics for the MSM
October 5, 2007 - 11:05 ET by Six String SpiffWhats the unemployment rate again? 4%? I think the economy is doing just fine. I don't need the MSM to twist it into a bad news story.
Yesterday I heard a CNBC reporter on the radio almost gleefully reporting the DOW had fallen just below 14,000.
'That didn't last too long' he says. It's too bad his job doesn't lasts longer than it should.
The American Revolution Continued
Spiff
October 5, 2007 - 11:17 ET by Gary HallI rememember a couple of weeks ago, the day the DOW soared past 14,000 ending up in record terrority, (I think it was on CNN - the CNN business gal??), the comment was, "does this mean that we're in for another 3 months of turmoil?" (;~> gary
Print/mint enough "money"
October 5, 2007 - 11:07 ET by sarcasmoAnd all kinds of wonderful things happen...For a while....
JMR
Rally online with fans of Dr. Ron Paul.
I'm having flashbacks
October 5, 2007 - 11:13 ET by MidAmericaI'm having flashbacks here. I remember a time when another Bush was in the Whitehouse and the economy was 'terrible' and then a clinton was elected and right away we had 8 years of unparalleled peace and prosperity. Looks like de-ja-vu all over again.
Alway surprised - Who are these idiots they talk to?
October 5, 2007 - 11:16 ET by TyromacI just read the Reuters articles and it noted how it was a "surprisingly robust report". Every article I've read the last several years that has positive economic news always has the word "surprising" somewhere. Who are these idiots these reporters talk to? At some point don't you realize they have no idea what the hell they are talking about? And if you don't, don't you realize you start to look like the idiot?
I seem to remember
October 5, 2007 - 11:20 ET by Dan The Man 2I seem to remember something the critics were slamming President Bush for, wasnt it about job creation and how many new jobs he was trying to stimulate through the tax cuts? If you are GOP you just cant win unless you switch sides or vote their way.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
weren't they still below
October 5, 2007 - 11:35 ET by johnGweren't they still below estimates?
but that doesn't matter, if there was one statistic that could predict recession i'd be a billionaire right now. you can make a case to be bullish or bearish in most situations, it all depends what data you emphasize. and it's very hard to say if any outlook is right or wrong.
WHat are you asking? What
October 5, 2007 - 11:42 ET by Roger the ShrubberWHat are you asking? What estimates?
The 4,000 job loss (which was wrong)? This was the most jobs added since May. Please elaborate.
It doesn't matter what the
October 5, 2007 - 14:32 ET by johnGIt doesn't matter what the numbers are, it depends what the expectations are. Because the actual number was revised from negative to positive has zero bearing, it has to do with what is expected.
The markets expected continued strong employment growth and when it was reported that the number missed their targets, the risk of recession increased.
So the reported loss of
October 5, 2007 - 17:03 ET by Roger the ShrubberSo the reported loss of 4,000 was premature, and the media should have known this, because it is common to adjust the numbers, right? Why did they make it a big deal?
The fact that the hair-pulling, teeth-gnashing kvetching that went on a few weeks ago means nothing? It affected the stock market, affected how the people view the economy. In other words, the media had a bias, and an agenda.
The big deal was that the
October 16, 2007 - 17:26 ET by johnGThe big deal was that the number was off the mark, not that it was negative. and jobs are a big deal(i tend to look at forward looking job estimates, but others may be different). jobs growth has a strong correlation to consumer spending, so reacting strongly to a jobs report is justified in some respect. (would i do it, no. but i think its a reasonable reaction)
I don't believe that reporting affects the stock market. stock market players are too sophisticated for large swings to be accredited to what cnbc, cnn, or whoever reports.
Maybe it affects the perception of the economy for some, but i think it was okay to have a moderate view of the economy. there are a few issues out there, so i think a more bearish stance is reasonable.
AP, the Masters of
October 5, 2007 - 11:36 ET by Roger the ShrubberAP, the Masters of Spin:
Job creation picked up in September but not enough to stop the unemployment rate from rising to 4.7 percent, the highest in just over a year.
Read down the article, 500 words down, actually, you read this: They (economists) did correctly predict that the jobless rate would rise to 4.7 percent.
At least they were honest enough to share this:
The bump up in the unemployment rate from 4.6 percent in August came as hundreds of thousands of people streamed back into the labor market.
Meanwhile Treasurys Plunge After jobs Data! OMG! The job market is destroying the Treasury!
Jobs created, consumer confidence up, stocks up, wages increasing. DAMN THAT BUSH ECONOMY!
LA Times - "Jobless rate rises.."
October 5, 2007 - 11:39 ET by Gary HallLA Times - "Jobless rate rises slightly". That's the headline (on-line in the moment).
The opening line, "The unemployment rate ticked up a notch last month ."Later: "The economy created a net 110,000 new jobs last month, and the government revised Augusts’ preliminary payroll numbers to 89,000, erasing what had initially appeared to be the first decline in four years." [That celebrated 4,000 number]Finally: "It's an indicator that this economy is a vibrant and strong economy,'' Bush told reporters in the Oval Office. The revision in Augusts’ numbers "means that we've had 49 consecutive months of job creation, and that's the longest uninterrupted job growth on record for our country.''Point: If this were the late 1990's, the media wouldn't be waiting to quote the president on his view here - their investigative reporting would have come up with their own headline:
"Historical Milestone for Clinton - A Record 49 Consecutive Months of Job Creation."
The media has been waiting
October 5, 2007 - 12:00 ET by SmartypantsThe media has been waiting for a recession "just around the corner" for the better part of the past five years. Eventually, there will be one and, mark my words, regardless who is president at that time it will be Bush's fault. When that does happen, there will be no mention of the unfettered growth the economy enjoyed during virtually the entire term of Bush's presidency.
"I wonder how the will
October 5, 2007 - 12:05 ET by MikeB"I wonder how the will pretend this is bad news?"
Allow me. This is just a guess, but it wouldn't surprise me to see: "Another 199,000 jobs created in August and September will result in an uptick in the inflation rate from cost-push inflation and a tightening of the job market. All of these jobs are in the "McJobs" category of low income jobs. This will soon require yet another fight in Congress to raise the minimum wage, which the evil Republicans will oppose. The rich are still getting richer, and the poor are still getting poorer." How's that?
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
Unemployment
October 5, 2007 - 13:53 ET by unitaryexecutiveI have been saying for a month that this was going to happen. The same thing happened after Hurricane Katrina. The jobs report for that month was in the negative, but those numbers are preliminary for about three months (and then they are even revised after that). The numbers are almost always revised up because the payroll survey is a really bad way to determine employment. I can't wait to hear how THIS is going to be spun a s bad news.
jobs
October 5, 2007 - 14:05 ET by bsmarjOr it might read like this:
Illegals loosing jobs because of increased deportation! American's again having to do jobs they use to do!
LaRaza and ACLU file suit!
I'm just waiting for one of these geniuses....
October 5, 2007 - 14:55 ET by timotheto say that the jobs were only created for "the rich". The poor are more jobless than ever.
job gains will just be ignored
October 6, 2007 - 10:47 ET by lunaticcringeradiojust like when the market gains points and resets another all new record high, pssst higher than it ever was with that great clinton economy, and it has stayed higher and more cosistant than it ever did with clinton.
the msm will simply igonre this story, just like they did about the amrket setting the record this week. but i can listen on the radio and if the market drops 20 points it's as if we are in negative numbers. in fact you'd think the market was at a negative 10,000 the way they report all the drops, they never report the up.
now if we can curb all the earmarked spending by the liberal congress that has squandered our surplus tax revenue that the tax cuts brought in, along with the idiot rino republicans that have to share plenty of the spending blame, we could pay off our deficit and start working on that debt and bring our dollar back up in the world. but no we have to pay $5000 to every baby born in the us according to hillary. keep reminding folks on that, that one should be kept ringing in peoples ears until the election. come on folks if liberals can push lies until they become common knowledge and the public believes it, we can easily keep people reminded if her intentions by repeating her own words. if conservatives learned how to fight back and play the same tactics in this game as liberals do, conservatives would never loose based simply on the fact that they are pushing commonsense and factually supported ideas and agendas that work, as opposed to the fairyland liberal socialist utopia crap that is being pushed in the msm.
remember liberal socialist utopia means that everyone is equally miserible, you can't say certain things because one person might not like it so everyone must be silent, you can't do certain things because some people might not be able to and we'll make them feel bad, you can't have certain things because if everyone can't have it nobody can, you can't enjoy doing this or that because someone else can't enjoy doing it so it's all taken away so nobody can enjoy life. except for the allmightly all knowing elite ruling class, they get all the goodies in life as a reward because the know what's best for us the pigs in the trough. doesn't liberal socialist utopia sound great. everyone is happy because nobody is better than anyone else.
lunaticcringeradio
ppppsssssstttttttt i know where jobs are
October 6, 2007 - 11:12 ET by lunaticcringeradiois anyone a decent mechanic maybe have a little bit of aviation maintenace out there, there are jobs available at the boeing plant building helicopters. same thing across the street at md helicopters.
any building electricians out there looking for work.
any plumbers?
builders?
air conditioning techs and installers?
here in phoenix we need people to work we are behind on so much work because we don't have skilled workers for these good paying jobs.
there are signs everywhere asking for help, and every highly skilled industry that my job allows me to visit is hiring. sometimes i walk out of a customers place and i take applications and information with me so i can see if i can do that job in the future if needed.
i think dillon armory is hiring too if you are a skilled gunsmith or machinist.
now my point is here skilled workers.
i use to work in helicopter maintenance and i transfered my skills into other trades, ac, when 9-11 ruined aviation. i adapted my abilities and kept employed. i've changed my career maybe 7 times so far in my life and i'm always open to learning something new and i turn 40 in 2 years(strangely enough it was my low paying radio job that got me interested in helicopters when i did traffic reports....seeee a stepping stone to something better). i'm also willing to move if need be, hell i moved to kuwait and iraq for a few years, not really my choice at the time but i did it. so if anyone wants to sit on their ass in one spot and cry that their loser union job went away, oooooh the government isn't doing anything about jobs, oooohhhh there isn't any work, it's your fault, you are a pathetic mooch with no ambition to succeed. with the opportunities that are out there, learn a new skill and success will follow, but you have to earn it. you heard bill gates last month saying there just isn't any skilled computer techs like there use to be. get off your ass, learn something new make yourself useful instead of a tumor. jobs don't come after you often, you have to build yourself to the job and this is the best time to do it before a recession that will eventually come with help from a democrat that was voted in by a loser who wouldnt adapt for himself.
you have to want to work, not just sit in your comfort zone and expect a steady paycheck. oh but i'm such and evil uncaring, heartless, cruel conservative. thanks i'll take that as a compliment. i got that way trough years of working hard.
lunaticcringeradio