1.4 Million Jobs Added In August, as Unemployment Rate Tumbles from 10.2% to 8.4%

Live now: Kayleigh McEnany press conference.

Biden's trying to poor-mouth the very rapid recovery.

"Expectations" were that the unemployment rate would fall gently to 9.8%.

It fell all the way to 8.4%, smashing expectations.

And the aneurystic at-large r@pist Biden reads his script claiming that this is some kind of a loss.

The unemployment rate was by far the lowest since the coronavirus shutdown in March, according to Labor Department figures released Friday. An alternative measure that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons also fell, down to 14.2% from 16.5% in July and 22.8% at the peak in April.

The number of jobs gained was ahead of expectations, but not by a huge amount.

The unemployment rate fell so low because we also saw a fresh low in the number of new jobless claims.

A couple of weeks ago, new jobless claims dropped below one million (post-coronacrisis) for the first time.

Now they fall again to a new low, below 900,000.

The number of new applications for unemployment benefits dipped to 881,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday in an encouraging sign for the economy.

Forecasters had projected 950,000 new jobless claims.

Instead, claims fell to the lowest level since mid-March, before the pandemic induced mass layoffs.

Say, wasn't Obama's unemployment rate at 8.1% before the 2012 election without any crisis (apart from Obama's presidency itself)...?

Why yes, it was.

Thanks to sponge for a tip about Kellyanne Fitzpatrick's tweets. (I don't call her Conway any longer.)

posted by Ace at 01:41 PM

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