how many jobs are available versus job seekers right now?

The US government's method for determining how many people are out of work and looking for work comes, of course, from fucking MARS, and i am sure it's not only inaccurate, but if anything it's skewed to be officially lower than it is in reality. In fact, the numbers as they are presented amount to a close-to-accurate guess. But has anyone heard lately what the numbers of seekers vs. the number of unfilled positions currently are? There has to be some published ratio out there.

My idiot stepfather thinks the economy is 'well oni it's way to recovery' just because a few places are hiring. He doesn't understand that 'there are THOUSANDS of applicants for each one of those few new jobs', nor that most of those jobs are part time and don't pay jack shit. A thousand new jobs doesn't mean lot when thrre are a million ppl applying for them. It's a real fucking knife fight out there. We sre not in a hole, but a fucking CRATER that it'll take us a decade or more to claw ourvway out of, if at all, ever. But yeah, anyone know that ratio?
Thanks, brothers

J

The government is lying so bad it is not funny. Keep in mind the statistics don't even include those who have given up looking for work.

It doesn't help that the new jobs are low-level and low-paying. Yeah, Walmart hired 10,000 new people....at $8/hour.

Good Post

Fair and balanced: The government is calculating the unemployment rate the same as they always have. That being said, with today's technology and data collection they should be able to do a much better job compared to 20 years ago. The problem is that no one want to reset to the real number because it looks so bad!

I'm not a supporter of the current administration or of any previous administration but a supporter of the country as a whole. I think things are getting better like your idiot step father, but i also agree with you that it is an insignificant change compared to the scope of the problem. I will give some credit, the economy is taking baby steps toward climbing a mountain. It should be making leaps and bounds but at least its moving forward and not backwards.

the larger issue to address with the economy is: What is driving the "slow" growth. Is it a real recovery or a manufactured one? A real recovery sometimes needs a kick but grows from the top, middle and bottom all at the same time. When the population believes that things are getting better they will invest. That investing creates jobs which in turn creates revenue that can be spent and helps to drive the economy as well as the perception that things are getting better. It's a big snowball rolling down hill and it feeds itself. What the federal reserve is doing is more like pushing the snowball on level ground by injecting massive amounts of money into the market. But when you stop pushing the snowball stops and so does growth and the economy. And you are left with exhaustion and no growth!!

I'm not an economist but that my two cents worth

What is your job/career description ? That would help a lot. Sorry if i missed it.

Quote:

Originally posted by F1098

What is your job/career description ? That would help a lot. Sorry if i missed it.

Lol, that's what I thought.

Quote:

Originally posted by DOM678

Fair and balanced: The government is calculating the unemployment rate the same as they always have.

If I remember right, they actually did change the way they calculated that during the Bush administration, and Clinton and Reagan also did some calculations of their own. I don't know if the Obama administration has made their own changes or not, but it wouldn't surprise me since the previous three did. Out of work for more than a year? Not unemployed anymore because the government assumes you just aren't looking hard enough or are being too picky. And some previous administrations (Reagan comes to mind) wouldn't count someone as unemployed unless they were actively looking and applying to jobs in the last two weeks.

But as to the OP's suggestion that the economy isn't improving, I don't think there's anything to support that. Yes, there are a ton of people applying for the jobs that are out there, making the job market extremely competitive in both the US and many countries abroad. But the difference is that there are more jobs available. I don't think anyone is saying all the problems are fixed and we are in a golden economic age, but we surely aren't at the low point anymore.

The government also keeps updating the stats after they publish them. At first they are bright and rosey and then a month later when nobody is looking they revise them down. If you follow any of the alternative media they go into details about the tricks being played.

They didn't change the way they calculate it per say just the way they determine the numbers that go into the calculation, recently it has been the number of people in the market for a job that has been disputed. I'm with you that they abuse the numbers, all the previous administrations have done this. I'm not necessarily defending these people, I think the number has always been fairly inaccurate. No politician (Clinton, Bush, or Obama) wants the people to know the unfiltered truth about the state of the economy. they have and still do heavily massage the numbers to their own benefit. the numbers are however the the only ones we have and as a gauge they can be used to compare with previous numbers to get a sense of where we are at currently.

Quote:

Originally posted by DOM678

They didn't change the way they calculate it per say just the way they determine the numbers that go into the calculation, recently it has been the number of people in the market for a job that has been disputed. I'm with you that they abuse the numbers, all the previous administrations have done this. I'm not necessarily defending these people, I think the number has always been fairly inaccurate. No politician (Clinton, Bush, or Obama) wants the people to know the unfiltered truth about the state of the economy. they have and still do heavily massage the numbers to their own benefit. the numbers are however the the only ones we have and as a gauge they can be used to compare with previous numbers to get a sense of where we are at currently.

True. Although the reliability of the comparisons has to be called into question when the way the numbers are calculated aren't the same. And I guess I don't get the distinction when you say they "didn't change the way they calculate it per say just the way they determine the numbers that go into the calculation." I mean, I guess the mathematical portion is the same - total number of people who are unemployed divided by the total number of people in the workforce or who want to be in the workforce. But when you change how you determine who is "unemployed," etc., that fundamentally alters the calculation for practical purposes.

The bottom line is they are cooking the numbers (As has always occurred since the dawn of time.) and you always need to understand how they obtain the results to interpret what the results truly mean.

I agree, they are cooking the numbers and always have been. It would be nice if someday one of the politicians grew a pair and make the calculation accurate and based on real numbers that could be verified so that the cooking could end

19 versus 31

Mabye they could make more chef apprentichips available so more people can cook the numbers, just a suggestion.

Move to Canada if you are a skilled person. Many jobs available here especially in Alberta. We need the workers and you folk need to start looking north of the border so we can stem the influx of temporary foreign workers from China, India, the Arab world and the Philippines. Please, come to Canada..... We speak the same language.....are polite, take our shoes off when we enter the house, and love Tim Horton's coffee and doughnuts. Just check your attitude at the border. I have worked with several Texans and southerners and they really need to realize that they are in a different country and that we are all not just snow monkeys.....