On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 21:37:35 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

An editorial from the Wisconsin State Journal
January 8, 2004

The United States Department of Labor announced this week that, over the
course of last year, American businesses cut 1,236,426 jobs in 2003,
exposing the lie of President Bush's so-called economic "recovery."

Far from easing up, the cuts increased as 2003 went on - the final
quarter of the year saw 364,346 job cut announcements, making it the
worst quarter for such announcements in 2003.

"(It) is difficult to get too excited about a year in which more than
1.2 million people fell victim to downsizing," says employment analyst
John Challenger.

We agree. Indeed, if the Bush "recovery" heats up much more, we wonder
whether anyone will have a job.

Yes, someone will have a job. However, all those numbers cited above do
not agree with the actual numbers from the Dept of Labor, Bureau of
Labor Statistics. Of course, it says right at the top that it's an
editorial, so it doesn't matter that it's a lie. For the actual
figures, see:

ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/empsit.ceseeb3.txt

Brief summary:

For the most recent 12 month period that data is available for, Dec 2002
to Nov 2003, the number of non-farm employees went from 130,198,000 to
130,174,000 for a loss of 24,000 jobs, not 1.2 million. Also, it's a
lie that the last quarter saw job cuts. The latest 3 months in the
chart (Sept-Nov 2003) jobs went from 129,980,000 to 130,174,000 for a
net gain of 194,000 jobs, which is a pretty good quarter.

Someone should tell the Wisconsin State Journal to check the figures in
their editorials before they publish them.

Steve