Like we said last week, we live in uncertain economic times. Not everything is good, not everything is bad. It's a mixed bag, and it takes more than the overall numbers to be deteremined if we are actually recovering or not. The truth is we are still sputtering, but gaining slowly... Very slowly.
The big story this week was that the unemployment rate dropped from 9.8% to 9.4% - very good news indeed, right? Well...... not necessarily. the fact is that we gained 103,000 jobs in December. Which is about the same a swe've averaged all of 2010. So, why the big drop in unemployment? Easy, many Americans gave up on looking for jobs, at least temporarily.
Like Red said in 'The Shawshank Redemption', Hope is a dangerous thing. We wouldn't go that far, but when everyone is actively looking for work - and not finding it - the rate goes up. It sounds almost retarded, but when people give up the search, the unemployment rate actually DROPS.. That was the case in December. Over 300,000 people gave up for Christmas...
Now, they will be back. New Year usually means renewed hope, and we think they'll come back - and the unemployment rate will rise again, job creation not withstanding. Yes, hope is good - except for unemployment! Stay tuned.....
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