Unemployment Rate Rises To 9.2%, Economy Worsens

The jobs report for June is out, and it's far worse than anything "the experts" expected. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2%, only 18,000 jobs were created in June, and the April/May figures were REDUCED by a total of 44,000 jobs. May was downgraded to 25,00 jobs created (down from the originally reported 54,000), and April was downgraded to 217,000 jobs created (down from the originally reported 232,000).

And there is worse information contained in this report. The percentage of adults with jobs has fallen from last month, as have the labor force participation rate and the average number of hours worked.

And we're hearing that word again... unexpected. This was all unexpected, and the experts are shocked. Do you know why this is? Basically, it's because they begin by assuming their conclusion, which is that the economy is recovering. If it's recovering, that means we're adding jobs. Ergo, the job numbers for the latest month are always assumed to be better.

But remember, June is the last month when the government "estimates" new jobs that they can't prove exist. So, as bad as these numbers are, the actual figures are probably worse.

And the U-6 figure? (For those that don't know, here is a definition of the U-6 unemployment number.)

The U6 unemployment rate counts not only people without work seeking full-time employment (the more familiar U-3 rate), but also counts "marginally attached workers and those working part-time for economic reasons." Note that some of these part-time workers counted as employed by U-3 could be working as little as an hour a week. And the "marginally attached workers" include those who have gotten discouraged and stopped looking, but still want to work. The age considered for this calculation is 16 years and over.

In June, the U6 unemployment figure ticked upwards to 16.2%. Yes, you heard that correctly, the REAL unemployment figure, the number that includes those who have given up looking for work, is 16.2%.

For the record, that's the highest it's been all year, and only 1.2 points lower than the high-point of the recession, which was 17.4% in October, 2009.

To see a chart showing the U3 unemployment rates over time, look here:
http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate.jsp

To see a chart showing the U6 unemployment rates over time, look here:
http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp

UPDATE: Here are links to some articles about this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43682716/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58561.html

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/07/08/morning-bell-an-economy-in-panic/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/09/business/economy/job-growth-falters-badly-clouding-hope-for-recovery.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/08/us-usa-economy-idUSTRE7662I420110708

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576433541086114816.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories