The poor economy is running around in circles in an economic abyss. Unemployment rose to 8.3% and total unemployed is back up to 15% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The reason it rose despite the increase in jobs is the small-business household survey dropped 195,000.
The U.S. added a paltry 163,000 jobs but it’s up from 80,000 last month. Information about the types of jobs added are not available yet.
The work force participation rate dipped to 63.7, meaning 150,000 people left the work force.
Manufacturing declined by .5% for the second straight month and every state is affected.
According to the Business Journals, Alaska fared the best, losing just 200 manufacturing jobs in five years. North Dakota (down 1,200) and Wyoming (down 1,400) were the only other states with declines smaller than 2,000.
But most states weren’t nearly as fortunate. Fourteen lost more than 50,000 manufacturing jobs apiece between 2007 and the current year, with California (down 217,300), Ohio (down 117,800), North Carolina (down 102,200) and Michigan (down 101,000) slipping into six digits.
The recession was clearly the driving force behind most of these declines, though other factors were also at work.
A Milken Institute report, for example, warned back in 2009 that California had been“hemorrhaging high-tech manufacturing jobs at an even higher rate than in traditional manufacturing industries” since the beginning of the decade. It blamed comparatively high tax rates and California’s “reputation for an unfriendly business climate” for the decline.
According to the latest data from Gallup, Americans’ confidence in the economy fell to an index reading of -29 last week, equal to the January level and well below the -16 reading in late May. And while the confidence reading is headed in the wrong direction, it remains well above the -52 readings of September and October of 2011
Read more: Confidence in U.S.Economy Declines
Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
HOUSEHOLD DATA
Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
[Percent]
| Measure | Not seasonally adjusted | Seasonally adjusted | |||||||
| July
2011 |
June
2012 |
July
2012 |
July
2011 |
Mar.
2012 |
Apr.
2012 |
May
2012 |
June
2012 |
July
2012 |
|
| U-1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force | 5.2 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 5.3 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.5 |
| U-2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force | 5.2 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate) | 9.3 | 8.4 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 |
| U-4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers | 10.0 | 8.9 | 9.1 | 9.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.8 |
| U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other persons marginally attached to the labor force, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force | 10.9 | 9.9 | 10.0 | 10.7 | 9.6 | 9.5 | 9.6 | 9.7 | 9.7 |
| U-6 Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force | 16.3 | 15.1 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 14.8 | 14.9 | 15.0 |
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