I guess I'm an idiot, these new jobs numbers dont add up to a sunny day (imho)

[NightWatcher]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35254011/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

The Labor Department said the economy shed 150,000 jobs in December, compared to 85,000 {loss of 65,000} previously reported, but November was revised to a gain of 64,000, up from 4,000. Annual benchmark revisions to payrolls data showed the economy has purged 8.4 million jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007.

<snip>

A sharp increase in the number of people giving up looking for work helped to depress the jobless rate. The number of 'discouraged job seekers' rose to 1.1 million in January from 734,000 a year ago.

<snip>

The economy grew at a 5.7 percent rate in the fourth quarter, the fastest clip in six years. Growth was driven by businesses reducing their stock of unsold goods less aggressively that in previous quarters.

Last month, the services sector added 40,000 jobs after shedding 96,000 positions. {loss of 56,000} The figure included a rise in federal government employment, partly as a result of the hiring of staff for the 2010 Census. Temporary help employment rose 52,000, maintaining a rising trend seen in the past month.

Manufacturing payrolls rose 11,000 last month, the first gain since January 2007, after dropping 23,000 in December. {loss of 12,000} But the construction sector, continued to struggle, losing 75,000 jobs, likely because of unusually cold weather. Construction payrolls fell 32,000 in December.

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Then there's:
Poof: Another 800,000 jobs disappear
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/04/news/economy/jobs_outlook/

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As bad as the government's jobs readings numbers have been during the Great Recession, we'll soon find out the real situation likely was worse.

Job losses during the recession may have been underestimated by close to a million jobs. So instead of employers cutting just over 7 million jobs from their payrolls since the economic downturn began in December 2007, it's expected that the Labor Department's new estimate will be a loss of 8 million jobs.

"It's an enormous understatement of the severity of the crisis," said Heidi Shierholz, labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a union-supported think tank. "It confirms that things were actually worse on the ground than what the reports suggested.
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I realize that I missed a few thousand temp jobs here and there, but I also read about the jobless that have given up somewhere around 1.1 million. Plus, how many people are underemployed working minimum wage type jobs after having lost much higher paying jobs. Has anyone else noticed older professionals at service type jobs. Lowes and Home Depot around here are being stocked with professionals instead of twenty somethings.

signed,
Laid off on Thanksgiving

[marmar]

1. It's more unemployment rate hocus pocus......

Expect an upward revision in a few weeks.....and an ugly picture in February.

[phantom power]

2. That's the problem with U3.

If they dared to report realistic unemployment numbers, it would be apocalyptic.

[AllentownJake]

3. Orwellian nonsense

Pretty simple to understand.

[Lost4words]

4. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,....

long term unemployed, sad to say, add some age in there and your really screwed!
This does not seem or feel like the Country I grew up in, its become some kind of corporatist state single party nightmare. :banghead::argh: