NC employment unemployment truth January 2014, Labor force droputs, Participation rate plummets, Employment spin, Greensboro News Record awarded 2 Murrows

“You can’t fix a problem unless you acknowledge and understand it.”…Citizen Wells

“11.4%: What the U.S. unemployment rate would be if labor force participation were back to January 2008 levels.” …James Pethokoukis, American Enterprise Institute, June 2013

“The function of the press is very high. It is almost Holy.
It ought to serve as a forum for the people, through which
the people may know freely what is going on. To misstate or
suppress the news is a breach of trust.”…. Louis D. Brandeis

It is fitting and proper that I award 2 Murrows to the Greensboro News Record. Edward R. Murrow was born just outside of Greensboro.

I will award more Murrows to the News Record when they report in the same manner on the US unemployment situation and Obama Administration.

From the Greensboro News Record January 7, 2014.

(print edition sub heading)

“People dropping out of the labor force might be skewing the decline.”

“The unemployment rate in the Greensboro/High Point metro area is the lowest since late 2008, when the economy began shedding jobs at an alarming rate.

The rate dropped to a seasonally adjusted 7.8 percent in November, the N.C. Department of Commerce reported Tuesday.

That’s a drop of 2.1 percentage points compared with November 2012.

It’s also the lowest rate in five years, when it was 7.9 percent.

But a closer look suggests the Greensboro/High Point metro’s job market may not be as healthy as it seems.

Despite the drop in the unemployment rate, the state’s survey of households suggests the region is adding few jobs.

The number of employed people is virtually unchanged since the end of 2012.”

Read more:

http://www.news-record.com/business/article_2fe50f6a-77ba-11e3-b6a7-0019bb30f31a.html

From the Greensboro News Record editorial January 9, 2014.

“Employment spin”

“After North Carolina cut unemployment benefits last summer, people went out and got jobs.

That’s the compelling story line Republicans are spreading to explain one reason for the state’s rapidly falling unemployment rate. It was 8.9 percent in July, when extended benefits ended and weekly payments decreased, and it declined steadily to 7.4 percent in November.

“Give people incentives to stay home, many will stay home. Give them incentives to work, and many more will work,” Jim Tynan wrote last week for the conservative journal Civitas Review Online.

Is it that simple? Can North Carolina, and the entire country, turn the economy around by cutting off unemployment benefits?”

“It’s not that simple. While more people are working, a much greater number have left the workforce. UNCG economist Andrew Brod noted recently that if the state’s labor force had been as large in November as it was in January, the most recent unemployment rate would have been 9.5 percent instead of 7.4 percent. Harvard economist Lawrence Katz last week said North Carolina’s shrinking labor force accounts for 95 percent of the falling unemployment rate. Job growth accounts for just 5 percent.”

“The bottom line for North Carolina’s economy is jobs. The number is slowly increasing, but the percentage of the state’s population that is employed hasn’t improved. If the problem were as easy to solve as some suggest — cutting off unemployment benefits — North Carolina would be in the fast lane to prosperity.”

Read more:

http://www.news-record.com/opinion/n_and_r_editorials/article_b3407324-78ad-11e3-912e-0019bb30f31a.html

The Greensboro News Record is awarded 2 Murrows.