[W:#657]America added 678,000 jobs in February, smashing forecasts

[Callen]

Also saw an year over year raise of 5% in wages! Now here is hoping inflation slows down that will really annoy Republicans.

 

[BlueTex]

...because almost everyone who wants a job has one. Leaving competition for labor more fierce than at any time in recent memory.

As was at a technology networking event last night... over half of the attendees were recruiters.....

 

[BlueTex]

 

[Greenbeard]

Or maybe unemployment is so low is because everyone has 2 jobs

A second job making 'Help Wanted' signs?

 

[Moon]

I am not surprised that healthcare is down that much. They've been in the frontlines for 2 years, and are burnt out. I am not surprised many left the field.
Hopefully with COVID cases slowing down, there will be an uptick in jobs.

That makes sense. I always considered healthcare to be a desirable field that would attract a lot of people. Hopefully we’ll see that deficit decrease in the coming months.

 

[SuperDS77]

Employment Situation Summary - 2024 Q01 Results

www.bls.gov

Looks like America continues to head in the right direction, despite rising inflation and costs for goods, adding 678K jobs in February, which exceeded economists' forecasts.

Unemployment dropped to 3.8%, which is also good news.

Yes this is good news. It looks like we have finally gotten back to the amount of employment before the pandemic. Hopefully the trend continues.

United States Employed Persons

The number of employed persons in The United States increased to 161969 Thousand in November of 2023 from 161222 Thousand in October of 2023. This page provides - United States Employed Persons - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

tradingeconomics.com

 

[ElChupacabra]

Well at least part of the economy is moving in the right direction. That's good to see.

Indeed, and that's been the case for a while. The thing is inflation sours the mood because it impacts people's wallets and makes it easy to think that everything is going in the wrong direction.

 

[ElChupacabra]

Really good trend. Leisure and hospitality is down by 1.5 million jobs compared to February 2020, so still some room for improvement there.

For sure, but I suspect that will change now that cases are in decline across the board and spring is coming. The drinks and services subset did really well, and that's good news for small businesses in this sector because they've been hit really hard throughout all of this. Restaurants had the food option, but bars were stuck in a really hard place; some pivoted to delivering food (the ones who had food menus) but were moving into an already really competitive space. I expect to see gains in this subset once office workers head back to the offices. Fingers crossed no surprise variants gum up the works.

I was surprised to see that the healthcare sector is down by 306,000 jobs compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

It's not that surprising given all of the stories of burnout and a lot of people making their way out due to the stress and overall frustration. I would bet that this sector will see larger growth once the endemic status stabilizes.

 

[NuffSaid]

I see a lack of traffic for this good news. I guess this is bad news to Trumplicans. Wait til Tucker gives the spin that jobs were added because Russia is great. We might see an uptick in traffic then.

 

[Chomsky]

am i the only one who looks for the first person to come in and try to suck all the positivity out of the room (in the good jobs threads)?

i just wanna see who is first. who wins the Schleprock award for each of these threads.

--

We can probably thank the failure of the Build Back Better bill for that.

--

Bingo!

Only 3 posts in . . .

 

[Chomsky]

Well that's a given, but you can make it more entertaining by guessing how many posts get in before that begins. I'm in before "b..b..but returning jerbs!!"

Can I have the number 3?

 

[Chomsky]

Really good trend. Leisure and hospitality is down by 1.5 million jobs compared to February 2020, so still some room for improvement there.

Yep, still some room to grow, it seems.

I was surprised to see that the healthcare sector is down by 306,000 jobs compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

That might be due to the recently enacted new policies where healthcare workers were being forced to come in sick and with a positive test, during the height of Omicorn.

Anecdotally, I know several healthcare workers that had huge conflicts with their employers negotiating their return to work while sick.

Given that I also know several healthcare workers that earlier in the pandemic left clinical practice or changed employers, due to work conditions and/or safety concerns, it's possible the recent change in CDC guidance and employer policies in December may have been the straw that broke the camel's back for some of them.

 

[Carjosse]

This is a terrible report... This will just further exacerbate the shortage of labor that Biden has created... Biden failure....





Thought I would try the other side for a post or two...

So how does it feel to be Conservative?

 

[Chomsky]

This is a terrible report... This will just further exacerbate the shortage of labor that Biden has created... Biden failure....

Thought I would try the other side for a post or two...

We had a thread not too long ago, where the purpose of the thread was to do just this.

After a post or two, most of us just gave up!

 

[Chomsky]

I am not surprised that healthcare is down that much. They've been in the frontlines for 2 years, and are burnt out. I am not surprised many left the field.
Hopefully with COVID cases slowing down, there will be an uptick in jobs.

Yep! I know several that changed employers or areas of practice, in reaction to the pandemic,

I posted above, that after two years of struggle & burn-out, the new CDC guidelines and employer policies during the height of Omicron may have been the straw that broke the camel's back for some of them.

So, you & I are very much thinking along the same lines here . . .

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Employment Situation Summary - 2024 Q01 Results

www.bls.gov

Looks like America continues to head in the right direction, despite rising inflation and costs for goods, adding 678K jobs in February, which exceeded economists' forecasts.

Unemployment dropped to 3.8%, which is also good news.

<SARC>But ... but ... but ... IT WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER UNDER TRUMP! AND BESIDES THEY ARE LYING.</SARC>

 

[Chomsky]

Why do i see 'Help Wanted' signs in every store front window if unemployment is 3.8%?

Uh, because unemployment is 3.8%? That is the way it works, you know!

Is this more of that D.C. math where they stop counting people who dropped out of the work force, so it looks like unemployment is low?

??

So you want to count those not in the labor force, as unemployed? What kind of fuzzy math is this?

 

[Deuce]

Why do i see 'Help Wanted' signs in every store front window if unemployment is 3.8%?

...because almost everyone is employed so it's harder to find workers.

LOL. Didn't think this through, did ya?

You don't see "help wanted" signs everywhere, you see those signs in shitty service industry jobs that have been underpaying and overworking people for decades and still stubbornly refuse to treat workers like human beings, so nobody applies. "NoBoDy WaNtS tO wOrk" no, jackass, nobody wants to work for you.

 

[Deuce]

Or maybe unemployment is so low is because everyone has 2 jobs

Holy shit this guy thinks unemployment is calculated via job openings, doesn't he?

 

[Deuce]

Uh, because unemployment is 3.8%? That is the way it works, you know!



??

So you want to count those not in the labor force, as unemployed? What kind of fuzzy math is this?

Get back to work, grandpa! Don't give me that "retirement" nonsense. You're unemployed, you lazy leech! Just collecting a check from the taxpayers, for shame!

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

That should be refined a bit, because it's about who is in power when America is doing well more so than the country doing well.

You have over complicated it.

It is NOT "about who is in power when America is doing well". Rather, it IS "about who is in power".

If "The WRONG Guys" are in power, he would be carping about how terrible the situation was if there was no unemployment, poverty, hunger, or disease in the United States of America and the American Standard of Living was 5 times higher than the standard of living of the next closest country.

HOWEVER, if "The RIGHT Guys" are in power, then there would be absolutely nothing whatsoever wrong in the United States of America (well, OK, so there might be stuff that wasn't absolutely perfect, but that lack of perfection would all be the fault of "The WRONG Guys").

 

[Dayton3]

More like the success of the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Most of that money hasn't even been spent yet.

 

[jakiejakester]

am i the only one who looks for the first person to come in and try to suck all the positivity out of the room (in the good jobs threads)?

i just wanna see who is first. who wins the Schleprock award for each of these threads.

Well it's interesting that @Conservative did not start this thread because that poster is the first one to start one when the numbers were not so positive...will he even join this thread???

 

[ElChupacabra]

You have over complicated it.

It is NOT "about who is in power when America is doing well". Rather, it IS "about who is in power".

If "The WRONG Guys" are in power, he would be carping about how terrible the situation was if there was no unemployment, poverty, hunger, or disease in the United States of America and the American Standard of Living was 5 times higher than the standard of living of the next closest country.

HOWEVER, if "The RIGHT Guys" are in power, then there would be absolutely nothing whatsoever wrong in the United States of America (well, OK, so there might be stuff that wasn't absolutely perfect, but that lack of perfection would all be the fault of "The WRONG Guys").

Fair point.

 

[jakiejakester]

Conclusion from Republicans:

“Biden fails. Doesn’t create any jobs.“

Don't forget that Biden is the cause of the Ukraine war, gas prices, inflation, the baseball strike and worst of all - Biden picked a Black woman to be on the Supreme Court!