Comparing This Recession to Previous Ones: Job Losses

[keepinitreal]

March 5, 2010

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/03/05/business/economy/losseshistorical.jpg

The economy lost 36,000 jobs in February, not quite as bad as most forecasters had expected. The consensus forecast on Thursday had been for a net loss of 68,000 jobs, largely because of the snowstorms that battered the East Coast in February.

The chart above shows job losses in this recession compared to other recent ones; the blue line represents the current downturn. Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has had a net loss of about 6.1 percent of its nonfarm payroll jobs. Many economists have concluded that the recession technically ended last summer even though the job market has not picked up since then.

The unemployment rate (measured by a different government survey, and based on the number of people without jobs but looking for work) held steady at 9.7 percent.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/comparing-this-recession-to-previous-ones-job-losses-8/

[keepinitreal]

The chart in the linked article is enlightening.

[Pizza]

Doesn't look like the typical V and U shaped recessions. Not even a W.

It's an L shaped! Home many underscores are ahead?

\________ ...

[banca rotta]

The reason why our fearless leaders cannot fix this "recession" is because it cannot be fixed. It has to crash.

It doesn't resemble a recession or even a 1930's style great depression in anyway shape of form.

It's a series of massive bubbles that are popping right before our eyes. The politicians and the fed are "fixing" it with new bubbles and they will also pop.

Housing wasn't the only asset class that was in a bubble. All kinds of consumer goods, cars, stocks etc. were in a bubble as well. All these prices (I'm saying prices, not value) went up for no good reason at all and will crash down just as hard.

[WhatMoney]

Another comparision:

http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/...yment1930s.png

[keepinitreal]

More Americans have lost their homes this past year than during the entire decade of the Great Depression. A backlog of 7m homes is awaiting likely seizure by lenders.

[Flamingo]

The population is way larger than in the 1930s and without job creation to support the ever increasing population, it's inevitable what will eventually occur. Also jobs are increasingly being outsourced to cut costs and obtain cheaper labor. Even teenagers cannot find summer jobs. Retirees cannot stay retired and survive and cannot even find a part-time job to help supplement whatever is left of their retirement. People hoping/wanting to retire cannot retire and face the prospect of losing their job, being cut with a layoff or not physically/mentally being able to stay on their job as they age. College graduates have to go back home to live with parents because there are no jobs and too much competition for any available job that does appear.

It's a festering can of worms ready to explode...

[OhioFiler]

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that "Only 36,000 Americans lost their jobs, which is really good."

The only person in Washington with less brainpower than Harry is Nancy Pelosi.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that "Only 36,000 Americans lost their jobs, which is really good."

The only person in Washington with less brainpower than Harry is Nancy Pelosi.

I disagree. There is one other, but I don't want to be called a racist.

[AngelinaCatHub]

The reason why our fearless leaders cannot fix this "recession" is because it cannot be fixed. It has to crash.

It doesn't resemble a recession or even a 1930's style great depression in anyway shape of form.

It's a series of massive bubbles that are popping right before our eyes. The politicians and the fed are "fixing" it with new bubbles and they will also pop.

Housing wasn't the only asset class that was in a bubble. All kinds of consumer goods, cars, stocks etc. were in a bubble as well. All these prices (I'm saying prices, not value) went up for no good reason at all and will crash down just as hard.

I wholly agree. What is more of a daily relevant threat to the World economy is Iran. Our PresBO has not been able to talk them into the 'Bammy fold. They are and will be testing a nuke. If Israel intelligence picks up a possible test upon Tel-Avive, it is all over. Oil will stop from the Mid-East and we sure are not "drilling here, drilling now".

Iran if retaliates it will be a nuke exchange. China now has one of the biggest nuclear submarines in the World. Russian made.

We have seen nothing yet. Big bubbles will pop and we will all be surprised as our Ostrich head becomes forcibly removed from our Ostrich anal passage.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Sure went off subject

I am sure we have drifted from the topic, but in that all seem to agree that poor management of current and past government is part of the problem the meandering of this thread is still relevant.

I don't usually pass email spam but this one came from a trusted friend and seems appropriate. I cannot link a credit line to it except by email address and that is breach of privacy:

This will take less than thirty seconds to read. It
makes sense. If you agree, please pass it on.

You are one of my 20.

Subject: An idea whose time has come

For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they didn't pay into Social Security, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform that is being considered...in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever.
The self-serving must stop. This is a good way to do that. It is an idea whose time has come.

Have each person contact a minimum of twenty people on their Address list, in turn ask each of those to do likewise..

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators
and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States ".

[WhatMoney]

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that "Only 36,000 Americans lost their jobs, which is really good."

The only person in Washington with less brainpower than Harry is Nancy Pelosi.

For the FACTS on Reid's comment (clipped and edited by the right wing attack dogs), read this:

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=47542&page=5

[WhatMoney]

[momisery]

First off the real unemployment rate is close to 17%, during the great depression they didn't not count people who ran out of benefits, or stopped looking. I think we mirror that depression a great deal since it did include a lot of bank failures. However we also mirror the one in the late seventies with double diget unemployment but we don't have the inflation. Yet we did get here by gas prices increasing for about a year before we felt the rest of the economy tank that would mirror the one in the late seventies too.

Even if we pull out of this one, we will head right into another one until we change our ways. We need alternative fuels so we are not held up with huge gas increases. And we need to provide jobs in our nation for everyone that will support them enough to buy our own products. Big oil right now has the incentive to outsource and just refine here because it is cheaper and they make larger profits. That will not work forever. With us losing our jobs to lower income nations either we will too be come lower income with lowered living standards, or we put a tariff on our shores again. I do not claim to have all the answers, but I can tell you that I can not afford to live in Hawaii... they make little there and import everything, just like the USA is doing now.. it does not fair well for everyone, and it makes them very dependent upon the mainland. We are becoming a dependent nation too.

[keepinitreal]

I disagree. There is one other, but I don't want to be called a racist.

The word "racist" is starting to get a new definition:
in favor of color-blind college admissions
in favor of color-blind test results promoting the most qualified applicant
willingness to disagree with the current President

Much like other words have gotten new definitions by some groups:
PIMP used to be negative
PHAT/FAT used to be negative
BAD used to be negative
SICK used to be negative
NASTY used to be negative
STUPID used to be negative

AngelinaCatHub, when someone is called a racist now, it's lost its original meaning and now just means you're being grouped with people who are color-blind and want the best possible outcome for ALL Americans. America's getting tired of whining and people who want MORE rights than other Americans.