Unemployment rises to 16.8 percent, private sector employees earn less

Washington DC—New unemployment numbers have been released; the U-3 unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent in February but the larger unemployment, the U-6 (which includes unemployed, underemployed, and those discouraged from seeking work) rose to 16.8 percent.

The new figures represent a trend that may raise future employment figures to be adjusted upward. At the present time, full employment is 4.7 percent U-3, but that percentage might be increased relative to the long term recession and high trending unemployment numbers.

Amidst the new jobless rate is an administration that is myopically focused on health care reform. In the latest bid to pass the Senate’s HCR through the House, key Lower Chamber members have been given assurance that the bill need only pass in its current form to lay the foundation for an eventual public option.

Public polling still shows a majority of Americans are opposed to HCR and place the economy and jobs as the highest priorities facing the nation. But the White House has sent clear signals that it intends to stay focused on HCR regardless of the state of the economy. The onslaught of government spending has led to the outpacing of government employee salaries to exceed those in the private sector $67,691 to $60,046.


 
-- Owen E. Richason IV
Chief Editor, Killswitch Politick



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Unemployment drops, spending hits all time high

By Owen E Richason IV
Updated Feb 05, 10

Feb 5, 10:20 AM EST

Washington, DC—Bloomberg News is reporting that the national unemployment rate (U-3) fell from 10 percent down to 9.7 percent and while the U-6 rate (the measure of those unemployed, underemployed, or have stopped looking for work) fell from 17.3 percent to 16.5 percent according to the latest figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Meanwhile, federal spending sharply rose, with a proposed budget to increase outlays by $67.5 billion from 2011 to 2015. A raise in the national debt ceiling has also been passed by Congress, bringing the federal debt limit to $1.9 trillion or $6,500 per citizen, the largest debt carried in American history.

Following the debt limit increase, the Wall Street Journal is reporting Moody’s Investor Service has warned the United State’s AAA rating makes foreign debt investors nervous, possibly causing a future downgrade to AA rating.

Adding to unease about the strategy for climbing out of the recession is a growing government payroll, climbing from 2 million to 2.15 million employees through the 2010 calendar year. Most increases will occur on the bureaucracy side, totaling 153,000 new workers, increasing from 1,277,000 to 1,430,000.

As federal spending rises, polling falls. Real Clear Politics’ average for the direction of the country shows that 58.4 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track and only 35.6 percent believe it is on the right track.