Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie

Michael Snyder

On Friday, we learned that the official “unemployment rate” has fallen to 5.5 percent. Since an unemployment rate of 5 percent is considered to be “full employment” by many economists, many in the mainstream media took this as a sign that the U.S. economy has almost fully “recovered” since the last recession.  In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, some Federal Reserve officials believe that "the U.S. economy is already at full employment."  But how can this possibly be?  It certainly does not square with reality.

Personally, I know people that have been struggling with unemployment for years and that still cannot find a decent job.  And I get emails from readers all the time that are heartbroken because they are suffering through extended periods of unemployment.  So what in the world is going on?  How can the government be telling us that we are nearly at “full employment” when so many people can’t find work?  Could it be possible that the government numbers are misleading?

It is my contention that the official “unemployment rate” has become so politicized and so manipulated that it is essentially meaningless at this point.  The following are 10 reasons why…

Worldwide Unemployment Crisis: There Are 93 Million Unemployed Workers In G20 Nations

Michael Snyder

Did you know that the total number of unemployed workers in G20 counties is now up to 93 million and that it is increasing with each passing day? You see, the truth is that the United States is not the only one dealing with a systemic unemployment crisis. This is literally happening all over the planet.  So what is causing this crisis?  Is there any hope that it will be turned around?  Well, unfortunately there are several long-term trends that have been developing for decades that have played a major role in bringing us to this point.

First of all, the giant corporations that now totally dominate the global economy have figured out that they can make a lot more money by replacing expensive workers that live in major industrialized nations with workers that live in nations where it is legal to pay slave labor wages.  So it isn't really a huge mystery why there is such a huge problem with unemployment in the Western world.  If you were running a giant corporation, why would you want to hire workers that will cost you 10 to 20 times as much as other workers?  A worker is a worker, and over the past decade we have seen a massive movement of jobs to countries where labor is cheaper.

In addition, large corporations are also trying to completely eliminate as many jobs as they can by using technology.  If a corporation can get a computer or a machine or a robot to do a task more cheaply than a human worker can do it, then why would that corporation want to continue to rely on human labor?  And of course we have seen an overall weakening of the economies of the Western world in recent years as well.  This has been particularly true in the United States.  As these long-term trends intensify, the worldwide unemployment crisis is going to get even worse.

The Decline Of Breadwinner Jobs Has Resulted In The Longest Bread Lines In American History

Michael Snyder

As the number of good jobs continues to decline, the number of Americans that cannot take care of themselves without government assistance continues to explode.  On Friday, we learned that the U.S. economy added "195,000 jobs" last month.  But when you look deeper at the numbers, another story emerges.

Last month, the U.S. economy actually lost 240,000 full-time jobs. Overall, the U.S. economy has only added 130,000 full-time jobs in 2013, but it takes about 90,000 full-time jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.  So we are losing quite a bit of ground as far as full-time jobs are concerned.  Meanwhile, the U.S. economy has added more than 500,000 part-time jobs so far this year.  Unfortunately, there are very, very few part-time and temp jobs that can be considered "breadwinner jobs".

Part-time jobs are great for teenagers, university students and elderly people that only want to work a limited number of hours, but what most Americans need are good paying full-time jobs with benefits that will allow them to take care of their families.  Unfortunately, those jobs are continually becoming a smaller part of our economy.

Spinning Bad Financial News Into Good

Paul Craig Roberts, Contributor
riday’s payroll jobs report says that 96,000 new jobs were created in August and that the unemployment rate (U.3) fell from 8.3% to 8.1%. As 96,000 new jobs are not enough to keep up with population growth, the decline in the U.3 unemployment rate was caused by 368,000 discouraged job seekers giving up on finding employment and dropping out of the work force as measured by U.3.

Discouraged workers are not included in the U.3 measure of unemployment, which makes the measure useless. The only purpose of U.3 is to keep bad news out of the news. the U.3 unemployment rate only measures those who have not been discouraged by the inability to find a job and are still actively seeking employment.

The government produces another unemployment measure, U.6, which includes people who have been discouraged by the inability to find a job and have been out of the work force for less than a year. This measure of unemployment is 14.7%, a number that would get attention if reported.

When the long-term (more than one year) discouraged workers are included, the US unemployment rate is about 22%. In other words, the real US rate of unemployment is almost three times higher than the reported–headline rate–of 8.1%. What is the purpose of reporting an unemployment rate that is about one-third the real unemployment rate? The only answer is deception through Happy News.

Warnings Of A Great Depression or Hyperinflation

A run is starting on your retirement, hardship compounding the problems of retirees, we may be going into hyperinflation or deflationary depression, currencies down significantly over gold, problems similar to the 1930s, Ponzi finance must end. 

Bob Chapman
The International Forecaster 

Dees Illustration

Unemployment at 22.4% is causing a run on assets of retirement funds. That is probably why legislation is being introduced to limit how much money can be removed from these investment vehicles. About 11% of participants have taken out loans over the past year, up from 9% y-o-y. In overall total 22% have loans out and the numbers are accelerating. Almost all the loans will never be paid back. Hardship is forcing people to withdraw, as well as those who believe that government will try to commander 401K’s and IRA’s to fund a bankrupt government, that wants to replace those vehicles with bogus government guaranteed annuities.

If the extension of the short-term debt is not legislated by August 2nd, we may see legislation regarding a takeover of some retirement plans.

As this possible misuse of Americans hangs in the balance, inflation plods, relentlessly onward and at the current rate of acceleration we could see hyperinflation two to three years down the road. We projected 14% inflation before the end of 2011 just over a year ago, and we have six months to go to make it to that level. 

10 Reasons Why The “Economic Recovery” Is a Fraud

Americans have been continually deceived about the true state of the financial system

Dees Illsutration

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet

Yesterday’s so-called “horror” show for the US economy with the release of new data illustrating how the economic “recovery” has all but ground to a halt was met with feigned astonishment and shock by the establishment media, and yet for the past two years the public has been continually deceived about the true state of the financial system.

All the hot air about an “economic recovery” has served to hide the fact that the United States is slipping back into a double-dip recession, if not a second “great depression,” as market strategist Peter Yastrow told CNBC yesterday.

Number of the Week: Companies’ Cash Hoard Grows

Mark Whitehouse
Wall Street Journal

$1.9 trillion: Corporate America’s cash

U.S. companies’ cash hoard keeps getting bigger, a trend both good and troubling.

After hitting new highs in five of the last six quarters, nonfinancial corporations’ cash and other liquid assets reached $1.9 trillion at the end of 2010, according to the Federal Reserve. That’s 7% of all their assets, the highest level since 1963.

On the bright side, the cash pile reflects the resilience of America’s companies and capital markets. Thanks in part to improved resource-management systems, executives have been able to act with lightning speed, slashing costs during the recession and hiring only as much as they need during the recovery — tactics that have generated record profits, if not jobs. Dynamic bond markets have allowed big companies to raise vast amounts of money even as banks have pulled back on lending. That has helped the U.S. avoid the kind of bankruptcy epidemic many had expected.

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Economy Hit with the Ultimate Smokescreen: Biflation

Ponzi economy being exposed

Eric Blair
Activist Post

You can tell when a Ponzi scheme is approaching its collapse by the increased number of smoke and mirrors needed to cover up the counterfeit foundation of the scheme.

The U.S. government, who already grossly disfigures the real numbers for GDP, unemployment and inflation, is constantly having to twist reality to keep their scheme afloat.

The government recently reported that unemployment numbers reached the lowest point in nearly two years at 8.9%, "sparking optimism" in the establishment media.  Many analysts point to two months in a row of "job growth" as evidence that the U.S. is well on its way to recovery and it should be good news for job seekers.

Try telling that to a random unemployed commenter who responded to the news with the following:

All lies. Why not just up the ante and say the unemployment rate is 5%? The last job I applied for had 440 applicants, many of whom had Phd's, for the whopping non-living wage figure of 35K.

Even if jobs are added, the question begs--what kind, and how much per hour? $8?

 We all know the inherent problems with the official unemployment number, as it never tells the full story. But assuming hiring has gotten better, these lower wage jobs will surely affect consumer spending in the near and long term.  Additionally, John Challenger, an executive with an outplacement firm, claimed his optimism is tempered because, "Certainly the specter of rising gas prices could impact employers' staffing decisions over the next six months."

Which brings us to the phony number in the theater to hide the Ponzi scheme that I want to focus on: inflation. The 12-month inflation rate as of January 2011, was 1.6% according to the official Consumer Price Index, or only 1% when you remove food and energy.  The report stated:

Over the last 12 months, the food index has risen 1.8 percent with the food at home index up 2.1 percent; both 12-month changes are the highest since 2009. The energy index has increased 7.3 percent over the last 12 months, with the gasoline index up 13.4 percent.

The gasoline index is indeed an eye-popping number.  Too bad it's not accurate.  According to a recently released report by the American Petroleum Institute (PDF) gas prices are up about 25% on average over the last 12 months, and a whopping 105.7% in just over two years (since December 29, 2008 lows).  And these numbers scarcely reflect recent jumps in oil prices due to turmoil in Libya and the Middle East, which has already caused the Obama Administration to consider tapping the nation's strategic oil reserves.

For all the news lately about looming food inflation with commodities skyrocketing, the Consumer Price Index for the past twelve months seems somewhat accurate.  In other words, the commodity speculation is only now starting to impact food prices in a major way.  The CPI release pointed out that "The index for food at home posted its largest increase in over two years with all six major grocery store food group indexes rising," and January's food at home index has already increased 0.7 percent.

All of these real increases to the cost of living for average people are balanced out with used housing, cars, and washing machines that are declining in price to create a palatable inflation official number.  This phenomenon is called biflation.  First introduced by Dr. F. Osborne Brown, biflation is where inflation and deflation occur simultaneously in the economy.  It is an effective tool to confuse the public and give pundits the intellectual case for spinning the numbers in either direction.

During biflation, there's a rise in prices of commodity-based assets like food and energy (inflation) and a simultaneous fall (deflation) in the price of debt-based assets like homes, cars, and appliances.  The free-market concept is that the price of all assets are based on the demand for them versus the amount of money in circulation to buy them.  In other words, their sales are utterly dependent on banks for credit, which is in turn dependent on the job market.

Wikipedia clearly describes the process of biflation as follows:

With biflation on the one hand, the economy is fueled by an over-abundance of money injected into the economy by central banks. Since most essential commodity-based assets (food, energy, clothing) remain in high demand, the price for them rises due to the increased volume of money chasing them. The increasing costs to purchase these essential assets is the price-inflationary arm of biflation. 

With biflation on the other hand, the economy is tempered by increasing unemployment and decreasing purchasing power. As a result, a greater amount of money is directed toward buying essential items and directed away from buying non-essential items. Debt-based assets (mega-houses, high-end automobiles and other typically debt based assets) become less essential and increasingly fall into lower demand. As a result, the prices for them fall due to the decreased volume of money chasing them. The decreasing costs to purchase these non-essential assets is the price-deflationary arm of biflation.

This biflationary period will likely continue, as money will continue to be printed to cover bank losses and government debt, while hardships will likely continue to mount for the average consumer.  Although the deflationary debt-based products seem like necessities in our modern world, their demand elasticity is far greater than that of food and energy, meaning they should not be equally weighed to determine the struggle of middle-and-lower class households.

So don't be fooled; biflation is being used as a smokescreen to keep the public from becoming alarmed about rapidly rising food and energy prices. Those who recognize the severity of the problem would be wise to prepare for massive inflation of human necessity today before the problem gets even worse.

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Unemployed: Stop Searching for a Job, Learn to Forage and Produce

Good jobs are not returning to America anytime soon.  It's time to stop hoping someone will pay you to do useless tasks and learn to forage and produce for yourself.

Howard Beale
Activist Post

A good friend of mine has been unemployed for over 18 months.  He is 32 years old with a master's degree from a respectable university and an impressive resume of non-profit charitable work, as well as international business experience.  He is even fluent in two languages; English and Spanish. Yet he is just beginning to realize after countless job applications, with few interviews, that he is a dime-a-dozen in in America's new paradigm of over-educated, over-qualified people who can't find a job to sustain them.

In his tenacious quest, he joined a cooperative that provides office space with Internet and phone service, job training courses, and kinship for the unemployed.  He even applied to the only entity that seemed to be openly hiring -- government:  The United Nations, the U.S. State Department, the CIA and, yes, the IRS too.  He attended a high-level interview for a U.N. position that was set up by a very connected family friend.  Apparently the U.N. hired someone with even more connections and qualifications.

It is probably a blessing that he never received call-backs from those federal agencies, but at the time it didn't feel that way to him.  In essence, he has used all of tools in the matrix to pursue employment, but to no avail.  It seems the wheel no longer needs his cog.


My friend, like many others going through the same struggle, is finally beginning to see the system for what it is: a rigged game to create dependence.  Dependence for employment, or dependence on government assistance.  It is a system that makes the unemployed feel worthless and hopeless. Unfortunately, this horrible feeling may be a necessary phase of waking up to the nature of this prison.

As everyone already knows, the manufacturing jobs will never return to America in any measurable way, because the incentives have been sent offshore.  Therefore, the only American job growth will take place in a Ponzi-style economy in non-productive sectors.  Since America no longer produces anything, it seems that they must break things in order to create false economic "growth."  Consequently, they can't implement any genuine solutions, because that would threaten even more jobs.

For instance, they can't end the foreign wars, or the War on Drugs, because where would all of the soldiers, contractors, DEA agents, prison guards, court workers, and all their support staff find new employment?  They can't simplify the tax code because where would all the accountants, bookkeepers, tax attorneys, and accounting professors work? They can't undo the Patriot Act because where would the millions of people who make up the surveillance-industrial complex work? They can't clamp down on the exotic games at the Wall Street casino, or virtually no one would be left with a job.

This is the nature of the phony matrix we call the American Economy.  Even if you're "lucky" enough to have a position in the above-mentioned professions (and many other non-productive capacities), you must realize that your job depends on the system remaining broken.  Indeed, many will fight to keep the broken system for their own self-interest.  This was blatantly obvious when police organizations were one of the biggest contributors for the campaign to defeat Prop 19 to legalize marijuana in California.

Since most people subconsciously know that their daily tasks are fundamentally worthless, or at least replaceable, job insecurity is at an all-time high.  It is the system's mechanism to perpetuate the rule of self-preservation that has deliberate consequences.  It creates an atmosphere where moral individuals will engage in immoral acts to preserve their livelihood. So, our survival instinct allows us to justify any moral or intellectual compromise.  In turn, they've convinced us that it is the only way to survive; hence our "dog-eat-dog" world. It's an evil trap and even the best-intentioned can fall prey to it.

The good news is that the system will eventually implode because it is built on an illusion, by fake money, and can only "produce" by destroying things through literal and figurative wars.  It destroys people, property, freedom, and basic morality. The bad news is that while it crumbles the human suffering will get much worse before it gets better.  The only way we can avoid or limit this suffering is by becoming aware and changing our approach to the matrix.

Back to my buddy.  A lot of good his $100,000-plus education has done for him in this system. He is only now taking the initiative to create something productive for himself out of sheer necessity. Can you imagine the level of production he could have accomplished in eighteen months working on a personal project, side business, or learning new skills?

It seems that the times are ripe for the hopelessly unemployed to realize that the only person they can depend on to create labor is themselves. The wonderful thing is that you finally get to choose how you will deploy your precious time and effort.  Sure, you may not make boatloads of money, or have health insurance right away, but some positive income can be achieved.  And if you're truly driven by passion, your labor becomes effortless and enjoyable and will ultimately result in whatever level of income you desire.

You may have to learn to forage for a while before you find the best income vehicle for your passions.  Learning to appreciate incremental gains when they do come is also vital to success, as any gain is certainly better than wasting away as a blob in front of the TV, polishing your résumé , and circling want ads for the next 6 months.

There are countless ways to turn your passions into income by foraging.  You can start a blog for free about topics you care deeply about; learning how to monetize it as your audience grows.  You can treasure hunt for valuable relics at yard sales and shops and sell them online. You can grow, make, and sell homemade products to your local cooperative or farmers market.  And why not organize a local co-op in your community if there isn't one?

The point is: our belief, dedication, and complacency to a "system" that has been defined for us has led to a lost ability to forage and create. The key is taking the first step on our own and seeing where it leads.

Related Article by Howard Beale:
So Broke We Can't Pay Attention

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Bank Of North Dakota: America's Only 'Socialist' Bank Is Thriving During Downturn (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post

(AP) The Bank of North Dakota - the nation's only state-owned bank - might seem to be a relic.

But now officials in other states are wondering if it is helping North Dakota sail through the national recession.

Gubernatorial candidates in Florida and Oregon and a Washington state legislator are advocating the creation of state-owned banks in those states. A report prepared for a Vermont House committee last month said the idea had "considerable merit." Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore promotes the bank on his Web site.

"There's a lot of hurt out there, a lot of states that are in trouble, and they're tying the Bank of North Dakota together with this economic success that we're having right now," said the bank's president, Eric Hardmeyer.

Hardmeyer says he's gotten "tons" of inquiries about the bank's workings, including questions from officials in California, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Washington state. North Dakota has the nation's lowest unemployment rate at 4.4 percent, soaring oil production and a robust state budget surplus - but Hardmeyer says the bank isn't responsible for the prosperity.

"We are a catalyst, perhaps, or maybe a part of it," he said. "To put this at our feet is flattering, but it frankly isn't true."

WATCH: Exclusive sneak-peak of a DVD extra from Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story,' on the Bank of North Dakota. The DVD comes out March 9th.  

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Unemployment isn't my problem; you are

Oregon Live
By T.M. SHINE 

LANTANA, Fla. -- I usually run errands in the afternoon, but one morning last week I was restless and had a craving for Apple Jacks. So I hopped on my bicycle and headed toward the convenience store. For the first few blocks I zigzagged along, enjoying the quiet roads of my sleepy neighborhood. But as I approached the first big intersection, I realized something strange was going on. Cars were jockeying for position, horns blaring; the nose of an Audi came dangerously close to striking my rear tire. The light went red, my feet touched down to stop and steady myself, and as I gazed at the traffic backing up in both directions, I asked myself, "Where on earth are all these people going?" 


Then it dawned on me ... work. 

Yes, it's been that long since I was one of them -- 432 days to be exact. I'd forgotten about commuter traffic. And that morning, a second epiphany followed the first: I hate people with jobs. 

I'm writing to announce that I've officially gone beyond the usual job-loss spectrum of denial to acceptance. I've hit a more obscure step, No. 8 or 9, in which you to come to grips with the fact that you can't stand anybody who is employed. 

Employed people, with their benefits and direct deposits, seem so smug to me now -- bills paid up, money for weekend getaways and nights at the movies. "You didn't see 'The Town' yet?" employed people keep asking me. No, I have no money. I haven't seen "The Town." (I have, however, seen "The Great Buck Howard" nine times on Showtime, but no one wants to talk about what a treasure John Malkovich is anymore.) 

The problem, I find, is no longer my unemployment. It's the people with employment -- rushing past me on the sidewalk, ties in the wind -- who are killing my spirit. I want to start tripping them as they race by, maybe throw an iced coffee in a few of their "out-of-my-way-I've-got-to-get-to-my-next-appointment" faces. 

I wasn't always like this. In the beginning, it didn't seem so bad being unemployed, at least not at this time in history, when so many others are in the same predicament. At first, maybe I was even a little relieved by the rising unemployment rates -- 10 percent, 12 percent, even 20 percent in some devastated areas. You see, I'm the kind of guy who never feared the Apocalypse or a nuclear holocaust because I sort of liked the idea of us all going down together. I don't so much mind being turned into a burning ember or a nuclear shadow on a concrete wall as long as it's happening to everyone else. 

It's when I'm a shadow on a concrete wall and everyone else is going on a picnic with toasty Quiznos sandwiches that I get upset. 

Other things have changed, too. There was a period when I really missed work. One night about six months ago, I went back to the office building where I used to work. I just wanted to be there. I couldn't go inside (my security code no longer worked), so I climbed a utility ladder attached to the side of the building and strolled along the rooftop until I was standing somewhere above my old desk. I missed it all so much. I missed procrastinating and stealing office supplies. I missed the one co-worker who thought I was funny and, even more so, the one who thought I was attractive. I even missed the guy who used to describe everything as "awesome." 

But that's all over now. At this point, just walking past the employed on a smoke break is enough to set me off. I try to cover my ears, but I can't help hearing some guy talk about how he's going to get the pretty girl in the office to go have Thai food with him, or another guy rehearse the joke he's cooked up for the afternoon meeting, and then I can't help wanting to go up to them to say that the pretty girl will go eat Thai with anyone, and that meeting laughs are the easiest laughs in the world. 

And the thing of it is, I don't think I'm part of some lunatic fringe. I am nothing if not representative of the average unemployed worker in America; there are millions of us, and surely others have reached this phase as well. 

To be honest, dear reader, my main reason for writing this is to warn you. If you're ever rushing to a business meeting down a crowded street and you suddenly fall flat on your face, as if somebody tripped you from behind, know this: Somebody did. 

(c) 2010, The New York Times

T.M. Shine is the author of the novel "Nothing Happens Until It Happens to You." 

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Why Is Indiana Putting Armed Security Guards Into 36 Unemployment Offices Across The State?

The Economic Collapse Blog

Did you ever think that things in America would get so bad that we would need to put armed guards into our unemployment offices?  Well, that is exactly what is happening in Indiana.  Armed security guards will now be posted at all 36 full-service unemployment offices in the state of Indiana.  So why is this happening now?  Well, Indiana Department of Workforce Development spokesman Marc Lotter says that the agency is bringing in the extra security in anticipation of an upcoming deadline when thousands upon thousands of Indiana residents could have their unemployment benefits cut off.  But it is not just the state of Indiana that could have a problem.  In fact, one recent study found that approximately 2 million Americans will lose their unemployment insurance benefits during this upcoming holiday season unless Congress authorizes another emergency extension of benefits by the end of November.  At this point, however, that is looking less and less likely.

So perhaps all the states will have to start putting armed security guards in their unemployment offices.  The truth is that frustration among unemployed Americans is growing by the day.

Could we soon see economic riots similar to what we have seen in Greece and France?

Let's hope not.

The following is a video news report about the armed guards that are going into Indiana unemployment offices....

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Amidst record unemployment, US companies hoard $1 trillion in cash

Anthony Freda Illustration

Reuters

U.S. companies are hoarding almost $1 trillion in cash but are unlikely to spend on expanding their business and hiring new employees due to continuing uncertainty about the strength of the economy, Moody's Investors Service said on Tuesday.

As the economy stabilizes companies are also more likely to spend on share repurchases and mergers and acquisitions, Moody's added.

Companies cut costs, reduced investment in plants and equipment and downsized operations in order to boost cash holdings during the recession. As the corporate bond market reopened many companies also boosted cash levels by selling debt and refinancing near-term debt maturities.

The US unemployment rate, meanwhile, sits at a whopping 9.2 percent. (A graph of the unemployment rates state by state can be found here).

Nonfinancial U.S. companies are sitting on $943 billion of cash and short-term investments, as of mid-year 2010, compared with $775 billion at the end of 2008, Moody's said. This would be enough to cover a year's worth of capital spending and dividends and still have $121 billion left over, it said.

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RELATED ARTICLE:
CEOs Blame Consumer Class for Joblessness

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