(Thumbnail Image: PBS)
BY KYRSTEN SKULBORSTAD
U.S. jobs figures are out — with mixed reviews. The unemployment rate rose for the first time in four months, from 9.5 percent to 9.6 percent in August. But according to some media players and economists, those figures alone don’t give an accurate indication of the actual state of the U.S. economy.
We’re analyzing perspectives from CNN, MSNBC, The Guardian and Newsweek.
According to CNN’s Ali Velshi, the key figure to understanding the state of the U.S. job market and where it's headed, isn’t the unemployment rate.
“The important number is the 54,000 jobs. Now, why are we a little bit elated about a loss of 54,000 jobs? I’ll tell you why. Number one, that total number of jobs lost in August is substantively less than what was predicted. ... We actually lost a lot of government jobs, but there were actually 67,000 new jobs created in the private sector and that is where this economic recovery has got to come from. So, the bottom line is, where we need jobs to be built in the private sector, we got them.”
Yet CNBC’s Senior Economics Reporter, Steve Liesman, explains one reason for the rise in unemployment. He quotes an economist, saying, “This job report was not a pearl, but it wasn’t Hurricane Earl, either.”
“So, why do we have a rising unemployment rate? Could be a good sign, actually, where half a million more people were attracted back to the work force. So that tends to increase the unemployment rate. People don’t look for work if there’s no work to be found. ... For Wall Street, I think this report kind of suggests the double-dip scenario of another recession is not the likely one.”
But a reporter for The Guardian is critical of this optimism, pointing out that while the 54,000 job loss figure was less than expected, the report shows the dismal state of the US economy.
“It is a sign of how low expectations for the US economy have fallen that today's jobs report was seen by Wall Street as good news. ... By U.S. standards, this is proving an anaemic recovery.”
And a writer for Newsweek agrees, saying these figures indicate the “Recovery Summer” the White House anticipated, wasn’t fully realized.
“Nineteen months after the $819 billion stimulus package that he [President Obama] vowed would jump-start sluggish sectors, it appears the sugar high has worn off. Growth is now progressing slower than Greenland’s glaciers.”
So, how is President Obama planning to spur more job growth? On the top of his list is a $55 billion proposed tax break for small businesses. He will push Congress to approve the bill when it returns from Summer Recess next week.
