Alexa Carrao
Employment Rises In October
When you think of the economy lately, do you think of it getting better or worse? Right now, some people may even say we are in a recession and the economy is at a very low point. In actuality, we are doing much better than some other parts of the world. Even in the past few years, we haven't gone too high in unemployment rates. In October, we had our government shut down pushing many people out of jobs and the percentage of people in the workforce is at the lowest point is has been in 35 years. When the government shut down, about 800,000 federal workers were pushed out of work temporarily. Also, 12,000 jobs were cut; a third of those jobs were in the postal service. The U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October all together, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rates in that month went from 7.2% to 7.3% just in the month of October. The growth even began in August and September; revisions showed that there were an extra 60,000 jobs in those two months. Almost 11 percent of people in the workforce without a high school diploma were unemployed in October, according to government data, compared to just 4 percent of college graduates. "The economy seems to be heating up faster than people think," said J.J. Kinahan, chief strategist for TDAmeritrade. Although we haven't quite recovered from the most recent recession, we must look at the bright side. More and more jobs are being laid out for others when all of those people are leaving the workforce.
U.S. Jobs Gained or Lost (In the Thousands)
62.8% people over the age of 16 either had a job or looked for one which is the lowest rate since 1978 of March. “The job market is actually narrowing,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo. “There’s a smaller group of people working, but they are prospering.” What all of this means together is 11.3 million Americans were counted as unemployed in October and 4 million of them had been out of work for at least six months. About 815,000 have gave up hope of even looking for a job anymore which really isn't helping with people getting employed. Overall, the economy took a bad turn in the month of October as hundred of thousands of people got pushed out of work rising unemployment rates. This rate hopefully will make a turn for the better as the economy continues to change with more people either being pulled in or getting pushed out of the workforce.
Sources:
Mui, Ylan. "Economy added 204,000 jobs in October; unemployment rate ticks up to 7.3 percent."Washington Post. The Washington Post, 9 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/jobless-rate-rose-to-73percent-during-government-shutdown-economy-added-204k-jobs/2013/11/08/f51fa1de-481f-11e3-b6f8-3782ff6cb769_story.html>.
Kurtz, Annalyn. "What shutdown? Hiring climbs in October." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 8 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. <http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/08/news/economy/october-jobs-report/>.
Just a technical note, I noticed a lot of structural errors in your piece, you weren't exactly consistent with what you were talking about and you seemed to use evidence that was not analyzed as deeply as it could be.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I agree with you that the government shut down contributed to the employment and unemployment rates for the month of October. A lot of people in the country don't know what's going on in the economy, because of their lack of knowledge about it. Anyway, some people may view October of 2013 as either a positive impact on employment and rates in general, and others may look at it as some sort of downfall and possible sign of repeating history.
Although there was a rise in employment in October, I still think that it could be doing a lot better even after October. With the government shutdown that took a lot of jobs, when the government started working again, wouldn't it have created a lot more jobs again? Just like you said that many of the jobs that were lost were in the postal service. So wouldnt they get their jobs back? Or is that not how it orks?
ReplyDeleteI know that America has been having a lot of unemployment problems but it's clear they are trying to get those numbers down. Even though the government shut down most of those unemployment numbers were only temporary. To add to that, most people that are unemployed have no highschool diploma. There are a lot of job fairs going on that are allowing hundreds of people gain employment, that is the right direction for our country as of right now.
ReplyDeleteSo are you trying to say that our economy is good or bad? Because it seems as if you can't make a choice or you are conflicting your views with your views which makes no sense. It kind of confused me, however in my opinion, I do believe that the government shut down had a lot to do with what has happened with our economy, pushing people out of work. That didn't help our case at all. I don't think this issue will improve if people continue to remain uneducated because that's another cause of unemployment. People need to start caring.
ReplyDeleteI agree that as you had stated, the government shut down had a great effect of the unemployment, but your opinions on the subject seemed to be conflicting, as at some points you were stating aspects that might happen in the future that might cause the unemployment rate to decrease or change for the better, while in other parts of the passage you were stating negatives. As Alex said, people don't care.
ReplyDeleteIt's only natural for unemployment to increase if our government is out of sync. The government is the control center of our country and until it is stabilized the entire country has potential to be unstabilized. I believe as we work to decrease debt and encourage democrats and republicans to agree the employment level will return to normal. In response to Alex's comment, I believe that our country has put in incredible effort in regards to education. Yes there is still room for improvement but it is evident that we have grown from where we one were. Awesome topic to discuss!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic. I have to agree with Olivia, it is only natural for unemployment to increase. The holiday season, however, brings hope for the unemployed and for employment in November/December. Because of the holiday, employers will hire a lot of people in order to work for the increased crowds of buyers. This will not only improve employment but it will also improve the economy.
ReplyDeleteThe government shut down really took away a lot of jobs. In addition to that, there will be many jobs that will start to surface with Black Friday and Christmas coming up. These seasonal opportunities really give some people the chance to get back on their feet. And, there could always be potential that those people will not get let go if they are improving from the start or fitting the companies needs.
ReplyDeleteI think it is incredible how many jobs the government shut down took away. My heart goes out to these families. I know that if the government shut down ever effected the education world my family would be at a loss for what to do. I would be quite frustrated if I was one of those individuals affected by the government shut down. Here you have these people who are hard working professionals yet they are not employed. What other kind of work are they possibly going to do now? They could end up being underemployed-people with high degrees of schooling working in restaurants or driving cabs. The government at least owes it to the people they put out of work to help them find employment else where for the time being.
ReplyDelete