42,000 jobs added Dec. 2011 were 'messengers and couriers,' p. 32 BLS report, table B-1

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42,000 December 2011 jobs added were 'couriers and messengers,' BLS, page 32, Table B-1, under Transportation

1/10/12, "Thank Santa for Dec. jobs," NY Post, Crudele

"If you check the BLS’s tables — specifically Table B1 — you’d see that 42,200 of those 200,000 new jobs were “couriers and messenger” positions.

In other words, these were jobs delivering packages. These new workers were handling the stuff Santa couldn’t fit in his sleigh.

These extra jobs are probably the result of heavier shopping over the Internet this year, where prices (and sales tax) tend to be a bargain hunter’s joy. If online shopping keeps growing, fewer people will find employment in stores in coming Christmases,

• and we’ll need more couriers and messengers.

Look, I’d like the glass to be completely full. But before the media writes stupid stuff, shouldn’t it investigate Uncle Sam’s numbers?

I contacted the expert at the BLS who handles this portion of the jobs report, and he said the courier/messenger blip in December usually reverses itself in January....

Despite the fact that sentiment surveys think Americans are becoming more optimistic, this upbeat attitude didn’t show up in last Friday’s jobs report. The unemployment rate dropped — this time to 8.5 percent from 8.6 percent —

• because more people have given up looking for work.

Once people do become convinced that job openings exist, they will start looking and

• that will drive the unemployment rate higher."...

via Lucianne