Unemployment miraculously fell last month from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent , the first time the rate has fallen under 8 percent in four years and the largest single-month drop since 1983.
It’s simply a miracle, particularly when the supporting data seems to indicate no real change …certainly no significant improvement in solid job prospects. More than 12 million Americans remain out of work and another 8.6 million are working only part time.
The Obama math gets fuzzy here. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the U.S. economy added 114,000 nonfarm jobs in September. Yet the administration-controlled Labor Department claims the number of unemployed dropped by 456,000 and 873,000 more people are working .
It is truly amazing what 114,000 new jobs can do, particularly as the election heats up … and especially since job growth remains sluggish at best and the GDP is showing a downward trend.
The report has already generated a sizeable hue and cry. Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch reportedly called the job numbers unbelievable. “These Chicago guys will do anything … can’t debate so change the numbers,” he tweeted.
Rick Santelli, of CNBC, reportedly yelled, “I told you they’d get it under 8 percent. They did. You can let American decide how they got there.”
Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., was a bit more harsh, saying the numbers have been manipulated a month before the presidential elections.
“This is Orwellian to say the least and representative of Saul Alinsky tactics from the book ‘Rules for Radicals,’” West is quoted in the media. “That’s a must read for all who want to know how the left strategize. Trust the Obama administration? Sure, and spontaneous reaction to a video caused the death of our ambassador … and pigs fly.”
J.D. Foster, from the Heritage Foundation, was more reserved.
“One time out of a hundred, the true figure will be much different than the reported figure,” he wrote in a Friday report. “One time out of a hundred for a monthly survey means about once every eight years. The last time the household survey showed such a huge jump in employment was in 1983 during the Reagan-era economic boom. Today’s economy does not look much like the Reagan boom.”
Enough said.
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