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Tim McMahon, Editor of UnemploymentData.com

My grandfather lived through the Hyperinflation in Weimar, Germany--to say he was an original “gold bug” would be an understatement. I began reading his “hard money” newsletters at the age of 16 and the dividends from gold stocks helped put me through college. I began publishing the Financial Trend Forecaster paper newsletter in 1995 upon the death of James Moore editor of Your Window into the Future and the creator of the Moore Inflation Predictor©. FTF specializes in trends in the stock market, gold, inflation and bonds. In January of 2003, I began publishing InflationData.com to specialize in all forms of information about the nature of Inflation. In 2009, we added Elliott Wave University to help teach you the principles of Elliott Wave analysis. In January 2013, we began publishing OptioMoney. Connect with Tim on Google+.

August Unemployment Numbers

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The U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the August unemployment numbers today. The BLS Commissioner says: “Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4 percent. Job gains occurred in manufacturing, construction, professional and technical services, health care, and mining. Employment growth has averaged 176,000 per month thus far this year, about in line with the average monthly gain of 187,000 in 2016.”

Actual employment in July was 146,330,000 and 146,541,000 in August for a net gain of 211,000 even though according to the Commissioner it was 156,000 on a “Seasonally Adjusted” basis.

  • Adjusted U-3 Unemployment was 4.4% up from 4.3% in July.
  • Unadjusted U-3 Unemployment was 4.5% down from 4.6% in July.
  • Employment Increase 156,000 on a “Seasonally Adjusted” or 211,000 non-adjusted.
  • U-6 Unemployment was 8.6% down from 8.9% in July.

August Employment Gain and Loss Bubbles

In the following chart from the BLS we can see [Read more…] about August Unemployment Numbers

4 Ways Small Businesses Are Changing Ancient POS Trends

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As a business owner, it is important that you set up convenient payment options for your customers to use when buying your products or services. An inconvenient, stressful or untrustworthy payment process can result in lost sales and the likelihood that some customers will take their business elsewhere. Technology for point-of-sale (POS) systems has dramatically improved in recent years, and this makes it easier for your company to obtain payments immediately from customers while also providing them with the more convenient methods of payment they desire. By learning more about the modern solutions available for point-of-sales systems, you may be able to improve your operations, make it easier for cashiers and increase customer satisfaction.

Online Sales Platforms

Online sales or shopping cart features have been around for over a decade now, but modern sales platforms are designed to be fast and easy for customers to use. Many companies offer an online checkout process as a guest or as a registered member. They may offer the ability to pay with a wide range of credit card options as well as to link to online payment platforms like PayPal. The best shopping carts offer protection against identity theft and fraud, and this gives your customer peace of mind when they are making a purchase that their financial information is protected.

https://youtu.be/YUqv7ibSgsE

Portable In-Store Payment Devices

In-store or in-restaurant purchases are now more convenient because of the

[Read more…] about 4 Ways Small Businesses Are Changing Ancient POS Trends

How to Stop Burnout and Build Momentum in Your Career

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Job got you down? Feeling Burned out? Consider the following steps to maximize your potential and re-energize your career and life.

Try Different Strategies

If you have been doing your job the same way for a long time, there is a good chance you are going to get bored. Change up your approach now and then. Tackle your job duties from a different angle, or use a new technique. If you are not sure how to change, take a seminar or workshop in job-related creativity or productivity. Not only will you learn new ways of doing things, but you will also meet others in the class with whom you can exchange ideas.

In this video Brendon Burchard gives you some unusual tips to get control of your time and your life, to eliminate stress and feel more relaxed and energized rather than overwhelmed at work.

Find a Mentor

Join a local business or civic group, like the chamber of commerce. You will likely find others in your business field who have plenty of experience and have achieved success. Someone may be [Read more…] about How to Stop Burnout and Build Momentum in Your Career

Worldwide Unemployment Rates

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OECD Unemployment
Image courtesy of: BlogPiks.com

On Friday August 11th the OECD published the Unemployment rates of its member countries. They call it the “Harmonised Unemployment Rate” meaning that they may adjust the rate depending on how the individual countries calculate it so they are comparable.

Note: The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 35 member countries, founded in 1960 to stimulate economic progress and world trade, headquartered in Paris France. In addition to its other functions the OECD publishes books, reports, statistics, working papers and reference materials.

The countries with the highest unemployment rates were:

 

Top 6 Highest Unemployment Rates in OECD Countries

Based on the most recent numbers we have for each country, we can see from the table below that the six countries with the highest unemployment rates are all [Read more…] about Worldwide Unemployment Rates

1 Million Fewer Jobs but BLS Says 209 K More

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U-3 Unemployment

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their employment and unemployment numbers for July on Friday August 4th.  The Seasonally adjusted U-3 unemployment rate was down from 4.4% in June to 4.3% in July. Unadjusted U-3 however was up from 4.5% to 4.6%. U3 is the Official unemployment rate per the International Labor Organization definition. It occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively looked for work within the past four weeks.

U-6 Unemployment

U-6 unemployment is the broadest category of unemployment and includes U3 plus “discouraged workers”, plus other “marginally attached workers”, plus part-time workers who want to work full-time, but cannot due to economic reasons. U-6 was unchanged from June at 8.9%.

 

Employment

The Commissioner of the BLS released this statement, “Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 209,000 in July, and the unemployment rate, at 4.3 percent, was little changed. Job gains occurred in food services and drinking places, professional and business services, and health care. Employment growth has averaged 184,000 per month thus far this year, in line with the  average monthly gain in 2016 (+187,000). “

However if we look at the actual employment data we get a different picture.  [Read more…] about 1 Million Fewer Jobs but BLS Says 209 K More

Comparing Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Numbers to an Independent Source

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NOTE: Gallup has STOPPED publishing their Unemployment Numbers effective in July 2017. This includes U-3, Underemployment (U-6), and Good Jobs Index (Payroll to Population Rate).

From 2010-2017,  the Gallup Survey people both generated numbers to help us understand the employment/unemployment situation. Unfortunately, they often presented a different picture from the numbers generated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Typically the BLS data presented a rosier picture than the independently surveyed Gallup numbers.

Often in the summer, the gap between the BLS and the Gallup closed. In July 2016, the BLS and the Gallup numbers came in identical. Early in 2017 the gap widened to 1.3% in April but has narrowed again to 0.6% in June.

For June 2017 Gallup said unadjusted U-3 unemployment was 5.1% down from 5.2% in May and 5.4% in April while the BLS said it was 4.5% up from 4.1% in May and April. So the spread is currently 0.6%.

Whose Unemployment Numbers are Right?

There has been some talk about “full employment” in the media of late and if we look at the Unemployment numbers created by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) we might get that impression. If we look at the Employment numbers rather than the Unemployment Rate we see a significant increase but it hasn’t been until recent months that the increase has actually outpaced the growth in the population.

We’ve looked at Employment vs. Unemployment on other pages to see how they compare and we’ve looked at U-6 (total labor force including those who’ve given up looking) vs. U-3 (those who are still actively looking).  The U-3 unemployment rate is the commonly quoted one. But the one problem is that all that data comes from the government. If they are fudging the numbers how would we know? Unless as we’ve noted before there are inconsistencies between the Unemployment and Employment Charts. But we  [Read more…] about Comparing Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Numbers to an Independent Source

High Unemployment Rates in Alaska and D.C.

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What Causes a State to Have a Lower Unemployment Rate?

Nationwide according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment rate is 4.4% but when you look a bit closer you will see that there is quite a bit of variation by state.

States with the Highest Unemployment Rates

Alaska had the highest jobless rate, at 6.8%, followed by New Mexico, at 6.4% and Washington D.C. at 6.2%.

22% of Alaskan Natives live below the poverty level.

Some of Alaska’s problems are understandable. Alaska has high transportation costs, little industry, a massively spread out population and massive poverty. As a matter of fact among Alaskan Native Americans the poverty rate is double the U.S. Average. The alcoholism mortality rate is 6 times higher than the national average. Obesity and diabetes rates are much higher and injury related deaths are much more frequent. But the situation among Native American tribes in Alaska is actually much worse than the statistics show.

Domestic violence is rampant among Native Americans in Alaska and not just in the home. I spoke with a teacher at a Native American School and they found it necessary to create two distinct schools to separate the boys from the girls because the girls were consistently being raped in the bathrooms. These rapes were routinely unreported to authorities because of the prevailing feeling that nothing would be done about it. And despite the massive under-reporting, statistics still show much higher rates of domestic violence than the average.

Opposite Conditions, Similar Rates

Looking at the various unemployment rates in the states, Alaska’s problems seem obvious but upon closer examination one begins to wonder. The third highest unemployment rate is Washington D.C. which is almost a polar opposite to all the factors in Alaska. D.C. is small, densely populated, has unlimited infrastructure, no oil reserves but it can draw funds from the entire country and it still has a surprisingly high unemployment rate at 6.2%. So two polar opposite places have similar unemployment rates. 

Similar Conditions, Different Rates

So let’s look at it the other way around and look at [Read more…] about High Unemployment Rates in Alaska and D.C.

Employers Compensation Costs Increase

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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their quarterly report today on the status of “Compensation Costs” i.e. how much employers are having to pay employees. Wages and salaries
are considered to make up about 70 percent of compensation costs, while  benefits make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation.

Over the most recent quarter (3 months) on a seasonally adjusted basis wages and salaries for civilian workers increased ½% while benefits increased slightly more at 0.6%. Over the last 12 months compensation costs for civilian workers increased 2.4 percent.

According to the BLS’ definition Civilian Workers includes both private industry workers and state and local government workers.

Private Industry Workers

As of the end of June 2017, compensation costs for private industry workers increased 2.4 percent over the year this was the same increase as the 12 months ending in June 2016. However, [Read more…] about Employers Compensation Costs Increase

6 Things to Consider When Your Business Expands

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When you are considering expanding your business – that is always a cause to celebrate. Sales might be doing well and you decide you need to find a bigger space so you can hire additional employees. So far so good. But, are you really ready for the expansion? The decision to extend the scope of your business must be a result of thoughtful consideration of various factors, including the financial, logistical, even your emotional readiness. Many successful small businesses have faltered or even failed because they expanded too quickly before they had worked out processes and procedures that were scalable. Forbes lists the following cautions when considering expansion.

  • Once you get to a certain sales range, above $5 million or so, it’s harder to keep track of your financials.
  • Unfortunately, more sales does not always equate to more profit.
  • Once a company is really growing quickly, the quality of the people you hire becomes a big issue.
  • When you’re growing quickly, it’s harder to be sure your customers are happy.
  • Fast growing companies often see their accounts receivable run faster than their sales or their ability to collect.

The rule of thumb is that you should only expand when there are untapped opportunities that can benefit your business. You need to think about the following points before embarking on business expansion: [Read more…] about 6 Things to Consider When Your Business Expands

45 Ways You Can Find Success Without a Degree

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College degrees are expensive these days. Many college graduates wind up with five-figure debts and still no job prospects once they graduate. To avoid that, many people are now looking for jobs that don’t require a degree. While some may assume that these are low-paying jobs, many are not. If you’re looking for a job that doesn’t require a degree, you might want to consider “Trade School” or other possibilities. They pay well and best of all, they don’t require a 4 year degree.

[Read more…] about 45 Ways You Can Find Success Without a Degree