US unemployment remains at 7.4% despite adding 176,000 new jobs

[The Stig]

Original story HERE at The Guardian

US unemployment remains at 7.4% despite adding 176,000 new jobs

Concern over the Federal Reserve's future policies has investors and policymakers scouring jobs reports for economic clues


US private employers added 176,000 jobs in August, nearly matching economists' expectations for the month, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Thursday.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 180,000 jobs. July's private payrolls gains were revised to 198,000 from the previously reported 200,000.

The report is jointly developed with Moody's Analytics.

The ADP data comes one day before the US government's report on August non-farm payrolls, which investors will scour in hopes of divining the Federal Reserve's future for its massive asset-buying program.

The Fed is now weighing when to pull back on its purchases of $85bn per month in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities.

Views that the Fed could slow its buying pace as soon as its September 17-18 meeting sent Treasury yields to two-year highs recently.

But policymakers say their decisions will depend on data showing the health of the world's biggest economy. Policymakers want to see the unemployment rate closer to 6% than its current 7.4%.

Economists in a Reuters poll, however, see the August unemployment rate remaining flat.

[bacpacker]

I wonder out of those jobs,, how many were multiple hires as part time for the same position to get around obummercare?

[Gunfixr]

As we all know, the MSM pretty much avoids all bad news that is due to anything related to Obama. So it was quite a surprise to see a headline on a TV news channel the other night about studies showing jobs that were being eliminated or downsized because of Obamacare. Unfortunately I did not get to see it. Me and my wife were headed out of our daughters hospital room to get some chow before she headed home.
But it is an indicator of how bad this is.

Also, the unemployment rate is always false. It does not include the "underemployed", nor does it include those who have simply given up on finding a job, or those whom have run out of unemployment benefits, and therefore not getting a check, but are still not employed.

[Possom]

I quit paying attention to these numbers long ago. You will get a much better indication of unemployment rates by simply looking around your town. Talk to small business owners. Big business might still be okay but small businesses are barely scraping by. Job creation comes from small business. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out small business is in trouble in our country.

[greg48]

Add in the fact of the jobs that have disappeared since 2009 and the actual unemployment number is well over 10%