It’s election season in the U.S. and all we get to hear in the pep really speeches from our incumbent politicians is how great things are getting and how much we have to look forward to the future with them in office. You are more than welcome to buy that line of b.s. but I always prefer to look at the facts. This article from CNBC (article) shows a bit of the truth behind how strong the job market is,which is a reflection of how strong the general economy is. To sum it up, it’s not good. In fact it’s really bad. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey or JOLTS show an 8% decline from the previous month as well as slowing in total hiring. With weakness across the entire employment spectrum it’s not a rosy picture.

The “official” unemployment rate has risen to 8.2% after the government statisticians  finished their magic equations to come to that figure ( it’s very similar to the way the come up with the official inflation figures, cut out as many numbers as possible that may show negative results). A quick look at the very informative unemployment charts  at shadowstats.com will give you a much clearer picture of reality and truth without leaving out all the people who actually are unemployed.

unemployment