Unemployment drops to 5%

[mikesilvia]

With all the negative news you hear when you turn on the TV, I thought I would put our unemployment rate into perspective.

Today, the unemployment rate went from 5.1% to 5% even though President Bush was trying his best to cause more jobs to be lost. (Why do we call it “unemployment rate” instead of 95% employment? Why always negative?) Anyway…

I thought I would put our 5% unemployment rate in perspective.

In Zimbabwe, the unemployment rate is at 80%. That means only 2 out of every 10 people wanting to work actually work. Sucks, huh?

Now crossing over to Yemen you will find a 35% unemployment rate. You think being in the Middle East would give you plenty of oil employment opportunities, huh? Iraq? 25%. Iran? 11%. Wait a minute? OPEC is making all that oil money, right?

Next we travel to South Africa, which is supposed to be Africa’s more modern country. South Africa’s unemployment? 26%.

Now let’s head of to Europe where people will say they know everything and socialism is great. Let’s start with Poland at 18% unemployment. Let’s head west. Greece and France surely have a better unemployment rate than the U.S.! Wrong! 9.9% unemployment. How about Spain? 9%. Germany? 11%!

Ok, enough! I know China has a booming economy and has a better unemployment rate than the U.S.! WRONG! 9% unemployment.

How about Belgium with the World Court? 8.4%. Here are some more countries:

Italy: 7.7%
Russia: 7.6%

Ok, stop! I know Canada is doing better than us! WRONG! 6.8%.

Netherlands: 6.6%
Sweden: 5.8
Denmark: 5.7%

So, the next time you hear that the sky is falling and that we are shipping all of our jobs overseas, refer to these stats and ask, “where are all the jobs going?” because we still have a better unemployment rate than most countries and almost every major country. Who beats us that has at least a medium size economy?

Mexico (Why are they all coming here to work? I guess all their unemployed go to the U.S.!)
South Korea (lots of US military aid)
Switzerland
Taiwan (lots of US military aid)
Japan (lots of US military aid)
UK

[streicher187]

That doesn't include the people on welfare not working or the ones who can no longer file for unemployment.. There are jobs just not the good ones there used to be now people are taking jobs they used to think were below them so they can get insurance..

Getting insurance without a job or decent income is almost impossible I only clear 600 a month and applied for insurance through a goverment agency and was told I was a great candidate but was wait listed till a spot comes open then it will be 230.00 a month..

As far as Mexico they come here for 5.00 an hour and that's a LOT more then they make back home.. I hate it when people say they are taking our jobs, if your job can be taken by someone who spent weeks in a desert, speak no english an have no training... They are not doing jobs americans WON'T do they are doing it for pay Americans won't take..

There are jobs but they don't pay enought for people to live on.. I would LOVE to see politicians try and live on Min. Wage for a year most would leave for the private sector..

[haybierman]

People can live on min wage. I lived on min wage throughout college. People just can't budget themselves to live within their means. Everyone thinks they deserve the finer things in life regardless of their income - hence the HUGE credit deficit in this country. I just looked on my social security statement. I made $22,000 last year NET and I survived. I think another part of the problem is that people don't get that min. wage is something you utilize while moving forward... it isn't an end, it is a means to an end. Pretty much anyone except rich white kids can get student loans and colleges are easier to get into than a Playboy Bunny at Mardi Gras. I truly believe that people are only held back by their own lack of motivation and their sense of entitlement that they should start at the top with zero qualifications.

[streicher187]

Min wage has been about 13,000 a year before taxes, insurance, etc.. Here in Pa the heating bills alone during winter are over 300.00 a month and yes loans can be gotten but they don't cover everything and sometime people need to work and don't have the time to go to college so I don't fault them for it.. I only had the chance to go one year because of circumstances.. So I don't hold that against them things do happen yes there are TONS of people who think life should be handed to them but there are people who due to circumstances have no other choice.. I myself chose family over anything else..

[mikesilvia]

That doesn't include the people on welfare not working or the ones who can no longer file for unemployment.. There are jobs just not the good ones there used to be now people are taking jobs they used to think were below them so they can get insurance..

100% wrong. Unemployment is based on government people contacting a sample size of America. From the department of labor:
What are the basic concepts of employment and unemployment?

The basic concepts involved in identifying the employed and unemployed are quite simple:

• People with jobs are employed.
• People who are jobless, looking for jobs, and available for work are unemployed.
• People who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force.

Read the link above and you will read how the surveys are conducted. If you are jobless and looking for work you are unemployed. If you are working you are employed. It is that simple.

[streicher187]

THAT'S EVEN WORSE

That's as bad as the poltical polls... There are about 60,000 households in the sample for this survey

that is not a good sample depends on who/where they called our area is over 30% and I'm sure places like Chicago are even worse..

[mikesilvia]

THAT'S EVEN WORSE

That's as bad as the poltical polls... There are about 60,000 households in the sample for this survey

that is not a good sample depends on who/where they called our area is over 30% and I'm sure places like Chicago are even worse..

You have obviously never taken a statistics class. I can sample 200 books in a library with 10 million books and tell you the average age of all the books with great accuracy. In college, 30 students and I did a 200 book sample in the library. We all sampled 200 different books and we all came within 1 year.

Just watch the polls for the primaries and you will see a sample size of 300 predicts within 1-2 points the election of millions of voters. The higher the sample size the more accurate the data. 60,000 is a HUGE sample size so the data is extremely accurate.

[streicher187]

That's why the polls have been so wrong in the election? That's why they were so wrong in Florida in 2000? And so all over the place this year? it's foolish to think that only 5% of Americans are unemployed and as far as jobs leaving the country and 60,000 isn't that huge depends on who they call and where they take them from that's only 1,200 a state.. And that's the people that tell the truth on the polls.. Where do they count Welfare on their polls(the people who are ashamed to admit they are on it)


I can tell you in the last 12 years we lost

An Ink Plant (china)
Glass Plant (closed)
4 Powder metal plants(2 to china 1 to Mexico and one close)
Several retail outlets(due to loss of manuf. jobs and high unemployment/welfare rate)

and 60,000 isn't that huge depends on who they call and where they take them from that's only 1,200 a state.. And that's the people that tell the truth on the polls..

And before I get blamed for Bush bashing it's only partly his fault the other part goes to clinton and his free trade agreements(which are a good idea if they could be enforced).. The 2 trademarks of the last administrations turned out to both be huge failures(Free Trade and No Child Left Behind)...

[mikesilvia]

Do you ever post a link? The polls have not been wrong. You are confusing exit polls with polls leading up the the elections. Check the polls for 2008 against the results and you will see what I'm talking about Zogby and other have consistently been within 1%.

It is funny that you ignore the entire theme of this thread to distract away from how GREAT the American economy is compared to the rest of the world. How about arguing that vice telling me how inaccurate accurate polls are?

[streicher187]

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?...ntentID=252964