7.8 Percent Unemployment Rate Raises Eyebrows; Bureau of Labor Statistics Says 'President Obama's Economic Policies are Working'
The Department of Labor announced today that the nation's unemployment rate has fell to 7.8 percent - the lowest since President Obama took office in 2009.
But instead of lauding the strengthening economy, many conspiracy theorists are raising their eyebrows at the falling rate.
"Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers," Jack Welch, a Republican and former CEO of General Electric, tweeted to his 1.3 million followers.
GOP Congressman Allen West called the report "confusing" and said he agrees with Welch.
"Chicago style politics is at work here," wrote on his Facebook page. "Somehow by manipulation of data we are all of a sudden below 8 percent unemployment, a month from the Presidential election. Trust the Obama administration? Sure, and the spontaneous reaction to a video caused the death of our Ambassador......and pigs fly."
The Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis quickly refuted the claims that the Obama administration somehow tampered with the numbers.
"President Obama's economic policies are working," Solis said in a released statement. "It is remarkable to consider the progress we've made despite the relative absence of bipartisan cooperation in Congress. If more lawmakers show a willingness to work across the aisle in the future, I'm confident we can accelerate these gains even more rapidly.
Solis said 86,000 more Americans found jobs in July and August than had been previously reported and the significant drop in the unemployment rate "was driven by people going back to work, not leaving the labor force."
"We saw unemployment drop for every group across the board last month," she said. "The fastest-growing group of new hires was young people ages 20 to 24 - a very encouraging sign for our country's future."
But, Generation Opportunity President and former Chief of Staff of the United States Department of Labor Paul Conway said he was suspicious of the numbers.
"I don't think that the numbers add up and to think that somehow for that the number to go down five weeks before an election is raising eyebrows and a few questions. "I think it's very convenient to have it go down when the numbers don't seem to support it."
Conway noted that in August, the number jumped from 8.2 percent to 8.1 percent because a significant amount of people stopped looking for work.
However, Conway said the fact that more people are now working is a good things.
According to Solis, new preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that they economy has now added nearly 5.2 million private sector jobs over 31 months of job growth.
"That's a striking contrast to the nearly 800,000 jobs a month we were losing at the end of the previous administration," Solis said. The key to our future job growth is to keep tax cuts in place for small businesses and middle-class families, and to make smart investments in infrastructure, energy and job training. That's how we'll build a sustained recovery and create an economy that's truly built to last for the middle class."
Guy La Bas, a managing director, fixed income strategy, at Janney Montgomery Scott told ABC News that he does not think that the numbers were tampered with.
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which conducts the monthly jobs survey is a non-partisan group of hard-working people that have the public trust," La Bas said. Considering this trust and the controls imposed on their processes, the chances that the BLS actively 'manipulated' data are extremely low, even if some of the numbers underlying today's jobs report appear surprising. In my discussions with statistical organizations, political officials receive information about economic releases only after the numbers have been calculated, so there's no opportunity for the White House-or anyone else-to alter the results."
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