Investors heralded the Dow Jones industrial average closing above 17,000 for the first time on Thursday in pre-Fourth of July trading after embracing reports of expansion in U.S. and Chinese manufacturing plus cheering the latest jobs report, notes Grumpy Editor.
All seems rosy on the financial front.
But one wonders why all the excitement when, as examples, the communist Chinese are bubbling along in manufacturing while the number of Americans 16 and older, who are not participating in the work force, hit a record 92.1 million last month.
While a key focus in business reports was U.S. employers adding 288,000 workers to payrolls in June, the number of Americans without jobs and not actively seeking one --- the participation rate --- in the past four weeks is up 111,000 from April, points out Ali Meyer in a CNSNews.com report based on figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Most news outlets were mum on the “without jobs” statistic.
Although the unemployment rate drifted to 6.1 percent in June from 6.3 percent in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the labor force participation rate for Americans was 62.8 percent, matching a 36-year low, notes Meyer.
Meanwhile, business economics writer Tom Blumer, on the NewsBusters site yesterday in response to an Associated Press story highlighting the “humming” job market and the economy "finally showing the vigor that Americans have long awaited,” points out the AP piece never mentioned that the U.S. has shown “two straight months (April and May) of real declines in consumer purchases; the seasonally adjusted decline of 523,000 in full-time employment paired with an increase of 799,000 part-time jobs in June; April’s and May's trade imbalance coming in worse than March’s, which was already very high; shipments of durable goods barely budging in April and May; factory orders falling in May; or May’s flat construction spending.”
In case your favorite news outlets missed these…
IN THE ‘HUH?’ DEPARTMENT: EEOC DECLARES SPEAKING ENGLISH ON JOB IS ‘DISCRIMINATION.’ Wisconsin Plastics, Inc., A Green Bay metal and plastic products manufacturer founded 42 years ago, is being sued by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for firing a group of Hispanic and Asian employees over their inability to speak English at work. The EEOC claims the English-language requirement in a U.S. business constitutes “discrimination.” Says Irene Garcia, of Judicial Watch: “If you are a private company in the United States, you should be able to require your employees to speak English.”
MOBILE ADS SEEN SURPASSING PRINT, RADIO THIS YEAR. Adweek reports New York-based independent market research firm eMarketer sees mobile advertising accounting for 9.8 percent of total U. S. ads this year, surpassing newspapers (9.3 percent), magazines (8.4 percent) and radio (8.6 percent).
ANOTHER (YAWN) BYLINE STRIKE. Journalists and columnists at Toronto’s Globe and Mail refuse to put their names on copy as negotiations between their union and the paper’s management neared a breaking point. Other than relatives and friends of the staffers, few readers consider missing bylines something that causes loss of sleep.
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO READIES MEDIA SCHOOL. Slated to debut on the Boulder campus in the fall next year is the College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado.
Drivers in Los Angeles are gearing up for another major gridlock in a chunk of the city as President Barack Obama is slated to visit the area again on July 23, speaking at a DNC fundraising dinner and reception.
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