In yet another sign of economic improvement, the latest jobs report showed that the U.S. added 227,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate stayed at 8.3 percent. The Hill reports that employment numbers from previous months have also been revised up:
The number is slightly better than expected and represents the third straight month the economy added more than 200,000 jobs. That’s good news for President Obama, who has seen his reelection chances improve with the better labor market.
The report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised figures for December and January up from 203,000 to 223,000, and from 243,00 to 284,000, respectively.
The reason the number of jobs increased but the unemployment rate was unchanged is because more Americans are flooding back into the jobs force, after dropping out due to the lack of available work. This is another indication that the economy is at least on the path to recovery.
However, the fact that the unemployment rate remains above 8 percent is still a political burden for Obama, and he’s likely to go into the general election with the highest unemployment rate of any president since World War II.
Republican leaders are applauding the latest jobs figures, but note that Obama is still pursuing policies that will slow the recovery and fail to reduce the national deficit.
“Three years of ‘stimulus’ spending, tax hikes, and excessive government regulations have left us with unemployment that has remained above eight percent for 37 consecutive months, and Americans are increasingly worried about the amount of debt owed to countries like China,” said Speaker of the House John Boehner in a statement this morning. “Meanwhile, gas prices have nearly doubled as the Obama administration has rejected new energy production, blocked and lobbied against projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, and promoted policies that would drive prices up even further.”
The President said "pass my jobs bill now" and Congress refused, holding tough on government spending.
Whatever you may think of Newt Gingrich, he was dead on target when he said recently that the most effective jobs program would be government action to unlock America's potential as a major twenty-first century producer of energy. Not only would such a policy create a boatload of jobs, it would make the US much less dependent on oil imports. In other words, it would actually do what Obama is trying and failing miserably to do with his misbegotten and costly "green" energy programs.
Peter Wehner yesterday tried to argue jobs numbers were bad. Now even Republican leaders say they are getting better. Peter has consistently been wrong about how the election was trending away from Obama, and his misreading of the unemployment numbers shows he is wrong again. n nThe larger point is it was and is stupid to base the entire Presidential campaign on employment numbers or on things like the deficit, both of which can easily be turned around on Republicans. The real issue has always been Obamacare and the theft of our liberty by an imperial president who lies every minute to gain more power, but no one seems to want to talk about it.
I don't entirely disagree with this, but let's not forget that the employment picture is only relatively good. Sure, it’s better now than it was at the bottom of the recession but an official unemployment rate of 8.3% is hardly brilliant, particularly compared with Team Obama's rosy 2009-10 forecasts. And as we know, the official rate understates real unemployment by a couple of points. Bottom line: Obama has failed to deliver on his grandiose promises concerning jobs. So while the GOP candidate shouldn't hang his hat on this single issue, he shouldn't ignore it either.
Well said!
We really should be looking at the U-6 statistic — which is what the older unemployment rates were based on. Looking at this – HOOVER was the last POTUS with it this bad….