The Mecklenburg County unemployment rate just went down to 9.8 percent, the Observer reports. The Observer calls this
“… an improvement from the previous month and from a year ago, the state Division of Employment Security said this morning … The county’s jobless rate was 10 percent in October, and 10.4 percent in November 2010.”
Fine. So would you guess then that:
a) more people in Mecklenburg have jobs than did last month and a year ago.
b) fewer people in Mecklenburg have jobs have jobs than did last month and a year ago.
The answer is B. Go here and click on “counties” and then click on “Mecklenburg” to see the truth. This November, 409, 390 people had jobs in Mecklenburg. Last November, 410,718 did. In 2009, 409,371 did. That’s what you call a LOSS. As in the worst jobs performance in November in any of the last three years.
And things have not improved since October, despite the deceptive picture that declining unemployment rates paint. In October, 413,841 people had jobs in Mecklenburg. By November, again, only 409,390 did. Using raw job numbers is the only true way to measure what is happening, which is probably why the powers that be don’t.
