We knew that the unemployment rate was higher than 9.5% because, damn, we can actually do real math, have eyes in our heads to see what is happening to our families and neighbors, and have been paying attention to the bank closures and home foreclosures.
The following statements, by the way, are the personal views of Atlanta Fed Chief Dennis Lockhart. The real question would be, “what outcome is The Fed shooting for with information like this being distributed to the public?”. We know that if The Fed can shut down all information about where $9 Trillion went, these statements being made by a Fed chief outside of NY is, more than likely, on purpose.
Real US unemployment rate at 16 pct: Fed official
The real US unemployment rate is 16 percent if persons who have dropped out of the labor pool and those working less than they would like are counted, a Federal Reserve official said Wednesday.”If one considers the people who would like a job but have stopped looking — so-called discouraged workers — and those who are working fewer hours than they want, the unemployment rate would move from the official 9.4 percent to 16 percent, said Atlanta Fed chief Dennis Lockhart.
He underscored that he was expressing his own views, which did “do not necessarily reflect those of my colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee,” the policy-setting body of the central bank.
Lockhart pointed out in a speech to a chamber of commerce in Chattanooga, Tennessee that those two categories of people are not taken into account in the Labor Department’s monthly report on the unemployment rate. The official July jobless rate was 9.4 percent.
Lockhart, who heads the Atlanta, Georgia, division of the Fed, is the first central bank official to acknowledge the depth of unemployment amid the worst US recession since the Great Depression.
Lockhart noted that construction and manufacturing had been particularly hard hit in the recession that began in December 2007 and predicted some jobs were gone for good.
Prior to the recession, he said, construction and manufacturing combined accounted for slightly more than 15 percent of employment. But during the recession, their job losses made up more than 40 percent of all US job losses.
“In my view, it is unlikely that we will see a return of jobs lost in certain sectors, such as manufacturing,” he said.
“In a similar vein, the recession has been so deep in construction that a reallocation of workers is likely to happen — even if not permanent.”
Payroll employment has fallen by 6.7 million since the recession began.
Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. - Thomas Jefferson
A Message To The House And Senate
The Mad Hatter by Michael Ramirez; "We Have To Pass This Bill So That You Can Find Out What Is In It. This Is The Most Ethical Congress Ever."
Could it be by admitting how bad the unemployment actually is, they think they will be able to push the health care issue.
More people out of work, more people without insurance.
My guess would be Rule #9:
I tend to think this has to be more of a message to the new NY Fed chair (from AFL-CIO Union-land) that he needs to persuade Bernanke to do something to improve the employment numbers. The Atlanta Fed chief may be under the mistaken impression that union bosses are concerned about employment.
What is of more interest to me is the Fed’s stonewalling on releasing data on money given to member banks out of the taxpayer bailout. They are now asking for a stay of execution until they can appeal a recent court ruling:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aAOhgVw78e3U
And then there’s our friends at the FDIC, who yesterday voted to allow private equity firms to buy failing banks. They also changed the reserve requirements for the private buyers. Banks who buy banks only have to keep 5 percent on reserve. The private firms have to keep 10 percent (reduced from an earlier proposal of 15) in reserve. Well, now that’s a relief!
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/FDIC-eases-rules-for-private-apf-3414679871.html?x=0
FDIC is supposed to release the quarterly numbers today and are expected to have to borrow from the Treasury. The Fed and banking situation just gets more bizarre by the day!