Post by unlawflcombatnt on Feb 1, 2008 21:06:38 GMT -6
The government's Bureau of Labor Statistics outdid itself today in fact creation.
For the 1st month in US History, our population actually declined. At least, that's what the Bureau of Labor Statistics claims.
For the month of January, the number of working age Americans declined by a whopping -540,000. This would be great news—if it was believable. Below is a copy of the BLS report of Working Age Americans: those over 16 years of age who are not institutionalized.
Maybe the population declined because 540K more Americans went to prison.
Maybe there was a mass deportation of 540K that was unreported by the press.
Maybe a chunk of California fell off into the sea. (It seems I would have heard about that, however, since I live near the California coast.)
Maybe 500K Americans were abducted by aliens.
Or maybe the government is just pulling facts out of thin air, like it's done since the 1st day the Bush junta came to power.
There is definite motivation to reduce the number of workers counted. By reducing the total number of workers counted, it reduces the number classified as unemployed—thus reducing the unemployment rate.
It should boggle the mind of anyone, to hear that Payroll Employment declined -17K, while unemployment also declined— from 5.0% down to 4.9%. Less workers employed should increase unemployment, not reduce it. In the past, when the BLS has manipulated numbers to falsely understate unemployment, it has done so by reducing the number of those "participating" in the labor force. The BLS makes this assertion by claiming workers have "dropped out of the labor force."
This month, however, they're claiming they've dropped off the face of the earth.
I think I'll take a drive to the coast, to make sure I didn't miss something.
____________
Here's a link to a 1-page summary table of today's employment report:
www.bls.gov/web/cpseea1.pdf
For the 1st month in US History, our population actually declined. At least, that's what the Bureau of Labor Statistics claims.
For the month of January, the number of working age Americans declined by a whopping -540,000. This would be great news—if it was believable. Below is a copy of the BLS report of Working Age Americans: those over 16 years of age who are not institutionalized.
Maybe the population declined because 540K more Americans went to prison.
Maybe there was a mass deportation of 540K that was unreported by the press.
Maybe a chunk of California fell off into the sea. (It seems I would have heard about that, however, since I live near the California coast.)
Maybe 500K Americans were abducted by aliens.
Or maybe the government is just pulling facts out of thin air, like it's done since the 1st day the Bush junta came to power.
There is definite motivation to reduce the number of workers counted. By reducing the total number of workers counted, it reduces the number classified as unemployed—thus reducing the unemployment rate.
It should boggle the mind of anyone, to hear that Payroll Employment declined -17K, while unemployment also declined— from 5.0% down to 4.9%. Less workers employed should increase unemployment, not reduce it. In the past, when the BLS has manipulated numbers to falsely understate unemployment, it has done so by reducing the number of those "participating" in the labor force. The BLS makes this assertion by claiming workers have "dropped out of the labor force."
This month, however, they're claiming they've dropped off the face of the earth.
I think I'll take a drive to the coast, to make sure I didn't miss something.
____________
Here's a link to a 1-page summary table of today's employment report:
www.bls.gov/web/cpseea1.pdf