Officials reject conspiracy theories on unemployment rate
WASHINGTON (AP) — When conspiracists suggested Friday that the Obama administration had engineered a sharp drop in unemployment to aid President Barack Obama's re-election, the response was swift.
Career government officials, economists and even some Mitt Romney supporters issued a collective sigh.
The staffers who compute the U.S. unemployment rate work in an agency of the Labor Department. Officials who have overseen the work say it's prepared under tight security with no White House input or supervision.
"To think that these numbers could be manipulated. ... It's impossible to do it and get away with it," said Keith Hall, a former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agency that calculates the unemployment rate.
"These numbers are very trustworthy," said Hall, who was appointed by President George W. Bush and whose four-year term ended in January.
The figures that produce the unemployment rate are crunched by several dozen people at the bureau. The only BLS employee appointed by the White House is the commissioner, who operates independently of the White House.
The job is now vacant but is being handled by Acting Commissioner John Galvin, who has worked at the BLS for 34 years.
Yet conspiracy theorists came out in force Friday after the government reported a sudden drop in unemployment a month before Election Day — to 7.8 percent for September from 8.1 percent in August.
Their message: The Obama administration would do anything to ensure a November victory, including manipulating unemployment data. Labor Department officials, joined by Democrats and some Republicans, called the charges implausible.
That didn't stop the chatter. The allegations were a measure of how politicized the monthly unemployment report has become near the end of a campaign that's focused on the economy and jobs.
The conspiracy erupted after former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, a Republican, tweeted his skepticism five minutes after the BLS announced the unemployment rate at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
"Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers," Welch tweeted, referring to the site of the Obama campaign headquarters.
The drop in unemployment was announced two days after Obama's lackluster performance in his first debate with Romney.
Republican Rep. Allen West of Florida soon announced via Facebook that he agreed with Welch.
"Somehow by manipulation of data we are all of a sudden below 8 percent unemployment, a month from the presidential election," West wrote. "This is Orwellian to say the least."
The Obama administration was forced to defend Labor's statisticians and economists against accusations that came without supporting evidence.
"No serious person ... would make claims like that," said Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
The monthly jobs report is prepared with raw data collected by Census workers. The workers interview Americans in about 60,000 households or visit them door-to-door.
People are asked whether they're employed and, if so, whether their jobs are full or part time. The Census workers gather other information about the respondents' education, age and gender and ask whether they're self-employed.
Most of the interviews are done in the week that includes the 19th day of the month. The resulting pile of data is transferred securely by Census to BLS about a week before the jobs report is due.
The office suites where the report is prepared and compiled goes on lockdown. Employees can't access the area without a hard pass. Staffers working on a paper copy of the report are expected to keep it under lock and key if they aren't at their desk — even when they go to lunch.
The security isn't just about keeping the data free of political pressure. The unemployment figures, if leaked early, could improperly move financial markets.
Tom Nardone, a 36-year veteran of the BLS, oversees the report's preparation. The goal, Nardone said, is to make the report as accurate and "apolitical" as possible.
"We strive to be like Joe Friday, just presenting the facts," he said.
A draft of the report is completed by early Wednesday before the Friday when it's released. Several groups of staffers review it. That Wednesday is usually the earliest that the commissioner of the BLS gets involved.
On Thursday afternoon, the report is sent to the White House's Council of Economic Advisors. Krueger provides a copy to the president.
Hilda Solis, Obama's labor secretary, doesn't see the report until around 8 a.m. Friday, a half-hour before its public release.
A week later, Labor releases the raw data on its website. Many academics use the data, which is stripped of all identifying information, for their own research.
The commissioner is the BLS' only political appointee. And even he or she operates independently of the presidential administration. The Obama administration has selected a new commissioner: Erica Groshen, a vice president at the New York Federal Reserve. She has yet to be approved by the Senate.
On Friday, Romney refrained from discrediting the government data. But plenty of conservatives did that work for him.
Conn Carroll, an editorial writer at the Washington Examiner, tweeted: "I don't think BLS cooked numbers. I think a bunch of Dems lied about getting jobs. That would have same effect."
Rick Manning, communications director of Americans for Limited Government and a former public affairs chief of staff at the Labor Department, said "anyone who takes this unemployment report serious is either naive or a paid Obama campaign adviser."
Rep. Paul Broun, a Georgia Republican, weighed in with a statement saying the report "raises questions for me, and frankly it should be raising eyebrows for people across the country."
Conspiracy theories are nothing new for Obama. He has been dogged by discredited claims that he wasn't born in this country and that he is Muslim.
On Friday, one leading Republican sided with Obama's team in rejecting the latest accusations.
"Stop with the dumb conspiracy theories. Good grief," Tony Fratto, a strategist who was a top communications official in the Bush White House, tweeted.
Career government officials, economists and even some Mitt Romney supporters issued a collective sigh.
The staffers who compute the U.S. unemployment rate work in an agency of the Labor Department. Officials who have overseen the work say it's prepared under tight security with no White House input or supervision.
"To think that these numbers could be manipulated. ... It's impossible to do it and get away with it," said Keith Hall, a former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agency that calculates the unemployment rate.
"These numbers are very trustworthy," said Hall, who was appointed by President George W. Bush and whose four-year term ended in January.
The figures that produce the unemployment rate are crunched by several dozen people at the bureau. The only BLS employee appointed by the White House is the commissioner, who operates independently of the White House.
The job is now vacant but is being handled by Acting Commissioner John Galvin, who has worked at the BLS for 34 years.
Yet conspiracy theorists came out in force Friday after the government reported a sudden drop in unemployment a month before Election Day — to 7.8 percent for September from 8.1 percent in August.
Their message: The Obama administration would do anything to ensure a November victory, including manipulating unemployment data. Labor Department officials, joined by Democrats and some Republicans, called the charges implausible.
That didn't stop the chatter. The allegations were a measure of how politicized the monthly unemployment report has become near the end of a campaign that's focused on the economy and jobs.
The conspiracy erupted after former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, a Republican, tweeted his skepticism five minutes after the BLS announced the unemployment rate at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
"Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers," Welch tweeted, referring to the site of the Obama campaign headquarters.
The drop in unemployment was announced two days after Obama's lackluster performance in his first debate with Romney.
Republican Rep. Allen West of Florida soon announced via Facebook that he agreed with Welch.
"Somehow by manipulation of data we are all of a sudden below 8 percent unemployment, a month from the presidential election," West wrote. "This is Orwellian to say the least."
The Obama administration was forced to defend Labor's statisticians and economists against accusations that came without supporting evidence.
"No serious person ... would make claims like that," said Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
The monthly jobs report is prepared with raw data collected by Census workers. The workers interview Americans in about 60,000 households or visit them door-to-door.
People are asked whether they're employed and, if so, whether their jobs are full or part time. The Census workers gather other information about the respondents' education, age and gender and ask whether they're self-employed.
Most of the interviews are done in the week that includes the 19th day of the month. The resulting pile of data is transferred securely by Census to BLS about a week before the jobs report is due.
The office suites where the report is prepared and compiled goes on lockdown. Employees can't access the area without a hard pass. Staffers working on a paper copy of the report are expected to keep it under lock and key if they aren't at their desk — even when they go to lunch.
The security isn't just about keeping the data free of political pressure. The unemployment figures, if leaked early, could improperly move financial markets.
Tom Nardone, a 36-year veteran of the BLS, oversees the report's preparation. The goal, Nardone said, is to make the report as accurate and "apolitical" as possible.
"We strive to be like Joe Friday, just presenting the facts," he said.
A draft of the report is completed by early Wednesday before the Friday when it's released. Several groups of staffers review it. That Wednesday is usually the earliest that the commissioner of the BLS gets involved.
On Thursday afternoon, the report is sent to the White House's Council of Economic Advisors. Krueger provides a copy to the president.
Hilda Solis, Obama's labor secretary, doesn't see the report until around 8 a.m. Friday, a half-hour before its public release.
A week later, Labor releases the raw data on its website. Many academics use the data, which is stripped of all identifying information, for their own research.
The commissioner is the BLS' only political appointee. And even he or she operates independently of the presidential administration. The Obama administration has selected a new commissioner: Erica Groshen, a vice president at the New York Federal Reserve. She has yet to be approved by the Senate.
On Friday, Romney refrained from discrediting the government data. But plenty of conservatives did that work for him.
Conn Carroll, an editorial writer at the Washington Examiner, tweeted: "I don't think BLS cooked numbers. I think a bunch of Dems lied about getting jobs. That would have same effect."
Rick Manning, communications director of Americans for Limited Government and a former public affairs chief of staff at the Labor Department, said "anyone who takes this unemployment report serious is either naive or a paid Obama campaign adviser."
Rep. Paul Broun, a Georgia Republican, weighed in with a statement saying the report "raises questions for me, and frankly it should be raising eyebrows for people across the country."
Conspiracy theories are nothing new for Obama. He has been dogged by discredited claims that he wasn't born in this country and that he is Muslim.
On Friday, one leading Republican sided with Obama's team in rejecting the latest accusations.
"Stop with the dumb conspiracy theories. Good grief," Tony Fratto, a strategist who was a top communications official in the Bush White House, tweeted.
Ha ha ha!! "Yes, it's all a conspiracy, my pretty!"
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Puh-leese.
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We all know that polls and studies are always right, don't we. ;-)
We all know the unemployment rate is somewhere around 15%. The government likes to play with numbers, and then use different data, when it suits them.
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There is no recovery, there is no reduction in unemployment.Â
What is this??? Every previous weekly jobs report was based on the weekly unemployment aid applications submitted for the prior week.Now we have a report "prepared with raw data collected by Census workers.The workers interview Americans in about 60,000 households or visit them door-to-door." ......60,000 households are now determining our nation's unemployment rate?? First of all,where and how were these households chosen by Census workers?? Did they interview in middle/upper class neighborhoods where it would be a safe bet that the occupants have jobs and can make their rent/mortgage payments???? Last Thursday's weekly report showed a rise in unemployment applications and economists forecasting a rise in unemployment from 8.1 to 8.2, and the next day this trash comes out !!
 @angry1 After 43 straight months with unemployment above 8 percent, now 25 days till election day.
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"no sitting president has ever won re-election with the jobless rate above 7.2Â percent."
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I know I'm surprised.
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Concocted all behind closed doors just like Obamacare. Everything was just to conveniently in place for the current situation.
Is anyone with common sense going to believe that unemployment has dropped to 7.8 percent, as reported by those that have been manipulating the unemployment figures ever since Obama took office? We can expect that since Obamaâs dismal performance at the first debate, Obamaâs cronies will be telling more and more lies about how the economy is improving, and how it is Romney who is the liar and canât be trusted to tell you the truth. Shame on us if we allow Obama and his cronies to continue deceiving us into believing that it is Romney we shouldn't trust when itâs Obama whoâs been caught in more lies than any president in the history of our nation. And therein lies the problem. Labor participation is in the decline because workers have exhausted their unemployment benefits. Theyâre no longer considered looking for work, making them no longer part of the system. For the purposes of government statistics, they donât exist. But with the right lies, damn lies, and government statistics, we could be in for another four more years of job destruction at the heavy hand of government if voters donât wise-up and vote with their brains and not for their personal popularity idol⦠Obama claims to create 3.5 million jobs but most are part time jobs. The real unemployment rate is closer to 15%. 25 million Americans out of work⦠Obama is a liar and thinks we are fools, which the wild-eyed-libs are proving to beâ¦I truly miss the days when truth was importantâ¦..
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Sure they do. They're told to. They are told to by the same man [Obama] that told them that the four Americans that were murdered on the anniversary of 911 by Muslim terrorists was just because of a video on utube. And only a bunch of conspiracy theorists would say that it was a 'terrorist act'.Â
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Because the government never lies. Just ask the four dead Americans. Or Mrs. Clinton.
Get too close to the truth and it becomes a "conspiracy theory."Â Never mind the endless layoffs. The only job sector that is hiring is service sector, ie. serving coffee and flipping burgers, and be sure to ignore the fact that a lot of companies (like the one I work for) are using contractors from India to do programming work which cost far more to train, pay, and then have the next untrained monkey show up.. rinse & repeat.
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Maybe the real reason is because those that haven't found a job have simply given up.. oh no thats a conspiracy theory.
"These numbers are very trustworthy," Sais the lying government mouthpiece.
 @!!! The government always tells the truth, didn't you know that? Especially right before an important election in which could make or break the outcome (specifically) for one of those involved.
This is getting really good. Any question or opposition is a conspiracy theory. Being appointed to a position by the White House is somehow independent of the White House. Suddenly Jack Welch is a conspiracy theorist. *Breaking News* "the media has no bias". The media supplies the "why" before the "who", "what," "where" is even discussed. Critical thinking is not used when the why is supplied. As "randomdude" points out this is Neuro-linguistic programming.
Neuro-linguistic programming. Don't buy the propaganda.
It's amazing that those who need ObamaCare the most don't support it.
Becuse they are all CRAZY.