February 6th, 2010 by Alex

The headline January jobs number reported that unemployment dropped to 9.7%. But if you take out seasonal statistical adjustments, it rose to 10.6%. Sometimes the seasonal adjustments make the number higher, sometimes lower. Net job losses increased from 14.7 million in December to 16.1 million in January due to a downward revision to previous reports. The number of discouraged workers who dropped out of the stats also rose, passing the 1 million mark. If those people were included the rate would have risen to 11.2% seasonally unadjusted. Also, seasonally unadjusted, the total unemployment number including underemployed and discouraged reached 18%. Basically, the only people hiring are health care and the federal government; two sectors that drain wealth instead of create it. So, that is the real story behind the January jobs numbers. And how real and reliable those numbers are to begin with is itself questionable.