America, we still have a problem! A month ago today, when the September unemployment rate was announced, optimism peaked in the media and politicians had a chance to say that the U.S. economy is on the right track. In September, the official unemployment rate in the U.S. economy was 7.8%, below the eight percent mark for the first time during Barack Obama’s presidency. Now, in October, the unemployment rate increased to 7.9%. (Source: Bureau of Labor, October 2, 2012.) If you have been reading Profit Confidential for a while, you know that the unemployment rate the Bureau of Labor reports doesn’t give us the whole picture. I focus on the underemployment rate, which includes people who have given up looking up for work and people who have part-time jobs but want full-time jobs. According to the Bureau, the underemployment rate in the U.S. economy was 14.6% in October, a minute decrease from last month. So far in 2012, in the U.S. economy, the employment growth has averaged 157,000 jobs per month, about the same monthly average of 2011. According to most economists, the U.S. economy needs to create 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with the number of new people entering the work force. Trillions of dollars have been thrown at the U.S. economy since the credit crisis of 2008. Our official national debt has grown by about $6.0 trillion under President Obama. Our national debt of $16.3 trillion (and growing) is more than this year’s estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of $15.8 trillion! Aside from the trillions of dollars the government has borrowed, the Federal Reserve has increased the size of its balance sheet by trillions of dollars as well. All these trillions thrown at the U.S. economy, and the economy still can’t get going. In normal circumstances, after a recession, the U.S. economy would be producing 250,000 to 300,000 jobs a month—a number we will likely never hit in 2013. Looking forward, things are not looking rosy in the U.S. economy. In a report issued by Gray & Christmas Inc., the layoffs by employers in the U.S. economy in October hit a five-month high. (Source: Reuters , last accessed November 1, 2012.) Dear reader, the employment picture in the U.S. economy is not improving. Politicians will talk about how many jobs were added, but they won’t talk about the labor participation rate or the underemployment rate, because those numbers paint a very negative picture of the U.S. economy. The year 2013 will be very challenging for America. Michael’s Personal Notes : According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of two percent in the ... Read More