Reports are showing The U.S. unemployment rate is at a five year low. According to Reuters “U.S. employers hired more workers than expected in November and the jobless rate hit a five-year low of 7.0 percent…” Reuters says the new number could result in the “Federal Reserve ratcheting back its bond-buying stimulus as soon as this month.” :
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 203,000 new jobs last month, following a similarly robust rise in October, the Labor Department said on Friday. The report, which showed broad gains in employment and a rise in hourly earnings, suggested strength in the economy heading into year-end.
However, positive unemployment numbers coming from the administration is likely to be met with suspicion after The New York Post reported in November that the U.S. Census faked the unemployment numbers before the 2012 election to make it look as if the unemployment rate had a huge drop between August and September of 2012. John Crudele wrote:
In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply — raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington.
The decline — from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September — might not have been all it seemed. The numbers, according to a reliable source, were manipulated. And the Census Bureau, which does the unemployment survey, knew it. Just two years before the presidential election, the Census Bureau had caught an employee fabricating data that went into the unemployment report, which is one of the most closely watched measures of the economy.
And a knowledgeable source says the deception went beyond that one employee — that it escalated at the time President Obama was seeking reelection in 2012 and continues today.
“He’s not the only one,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous for now but is willing to talk with the Labor Department and Congress if asked.
The Census employee caught faking the results is Julius Buckmon, according to confidential Census documents obtained by The Post. Buckmon told me in an interview this past weekend that he was told to make up information by higher-ups at Census.
The 2014 midterm elections are just around the corner and according to Amy Walter at the Cook Political Report, Democrats are currently more vulnerable in the upcoming midterms than Republicans. :
Congress is as about as popular as gonorrhea. President Obama’s approval ratings and personal ratings are at the lowest point of his presidency. Republicans, as well, have seen their favorable ratings hit all-time lows.
But while neither party can escape blame or scorn, Democrats are more likely to feel the fall-out than Republicans. Why? Democrats have more vulnerable seats in play in both the House and the Senate. The President’s approval ratings are a bigger driver of electoral outcomes than that of Congress. The Obamacare issue is more likely to be an anvil than a benefit politically for the Democrats. And, of course, there’s history working against Democrats too. See; Itch, Six Year.
Following Crudele’s report, the Census Bureau disputed the claims against it saying the bureau reported the claims to the Inspector General as soon as it learned of the allegations. Rep. Darrell Issa, House Oversight Committee Chair sent a letter to to Census Bureau Director John Thompson calling the allegations, “shocking.”
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