despite the progress and the drop in the national unemployment rate, long term unemployment is still a very real problem. 4 million americans, 1/3 of unemployed workers have been out of work for six months. this does significant damage to the productivity. in fact, looking back yesterday, we talked about that fact there has been progress, but the challenges ahead are the productivity and income disparity. we are making progress providing benefits for people who have been out of work for more than six months. that is sponsored by reed and hel heller. it will make sure people will be allowed to pay rent and fill the gas tank. earlier, i released a jec report laying out the economic case for continuing federal unemployment insurance. the long-term unemployment rate is nearly twice what it was after congress let the federal insurance expire from 1991. you can see the chart where he had the unemployment level in past cases that was allowed to expire. i would like to hear about the data on long-term unemployment. and in several states high long-term unemployment is masked by a lower overal

they said it would be a 5% unemployment rate. which we're not anywhere near. at the average rate of job creation right now during 2013 last year, how much longer would it take for unemployment for the rate to reach 5%? i haven't done that calculation. i know, it will take seven months for us to get back to the total payroll where we were total payroll where we were before. >> there would be a longer period of time to get to that 5%. >> ymedz we can estimate that. we can streamline that for you. >> and let me turn a little bit to i'm. because part-time and full-time has been discussed discussed with concerns. i would like to ask some questions about that. part-time employment for economic reasons is a measure some would say weakness in the labor market. as an economist, would you agree that part time employment could be viewed as a weakness in the labor market? >> generally speaking, during recession you see an increase in the number of people who are part time for economic reasons. not getting as many hours as they would like, or they would prefer to work full-

in december 2013 the unemployment rate, the unemployment rate for veterans aged 18-24 was 15.6% which is little different because these sample sizes are so small. this is little different from the 11.4% unemployment rate for nonveterans of that age. >> uh-huh. >> veterans overall make up about 4% of unemployed persons as of december. >> okay. i do remember we've been working hard in various ways on this issue because of the fact that, um, for a while we were having extraordinarily high unemployment rates with veterans, and we -- i know we've seen some improvement. >> uh-huh. okay. so let me get back to the regional question. >> uh-huh. >> looking at the november numbers which is the latest for which we have, um, for which we have unemployment rates, um, the states with the highest unemployment rates -- seasonally adjusted -- are nevada at 9%, rhode island at 9%, michigan at 8.8%, illinois at 8.7%. and the other ones who are kind of in that range are district of columbia, california, mississippi, kentucky, tennessee, arizona, new jersey. they top out top group at 7.8%. >> uh-huh. >> th

the entire reason we have elevated unemployment is because of the long-term unemployment rate. ecedented to let emergency unemployment insurance expire with that unemployment rates at this level. this is clear evidence for why this is absolutely needed. i lot of burkett -- a lot of people are working really hard to look for jobs. their lives are difficult, we should be helping them. minimum wage, not i support one way or another, the motivation for that continues to be that we would like to see wage growth for families of the bottom, at the middle, and overall. >> some republican opponents would come out and say, we have seen this pretty big job at the .7%,ss rate by down to six the lowest rate since the recession. is this really an emergency anymore? we focuss exactly why on that long-term unemployment rate. that is the reason we need to extend benefits. here's something important to understand, right now for every havehat has a vacancy, you 63 people unemployed looking for that job -- you have six people look the for that job. more to to be doing create jobs for people who are

he numbers of are, the mber 2013 unemployment rate for veterans 18-24 was 15.6%, which is ittle different because these sample sizes are so small. this is a little different from rate for unemployment non veterans of that age. about s overall make up % of unemployed persons as of december. >> do i remember we've been working hard in various ways on fact ssue because of the that for a while we were having xtraordinarily high unemployment rates with veterans and i know we've seen some improvement. let me get back to the regional question. at the november numbers which is the latest for which we unemployment rates, the highest th the unemployment rates seasonally i at 9% and e nevada rhode island at nine and ares illinois at8.8% and 8.7% and the other ones who are district of are the columbia, california, kentucky, i, tennessee, arizona, new jersey. group at about the top 7.8%. he states with the lowest unemployment are north and south 2.6% and 3.6% 3.7%, tively, nebraska at utah at 4.3%, hawaii, iowa, at 4.4%.wyoming all 4.6% andes minnesota at then kansas and new hampshire at 5.1%. >> i'm

the unemployment rate is high. bur there are a lot of vacancies out there.t's the matching that's messed up. i have labor economist friends. the problem is the long-term unemployed right now. the people who lost their job two months ago are in pretty now. it's the folks who have been out of work for more than a year that are still really having a hard time finding a job. >> another senate vote is tentatively set next week. >> despite deep discounts and heavy promotions, foot traffic between thanksgiving and christmas was down 14.6% compared to last year, according to shopper track. mean while, overall retail sales did rise 2.7%, the smallest increase since 2009. shopper track data does not include unlined -- online sales. a larger snapshot will come on tuesday when the national retail federation figures. it's forecasting 3.9% but that does include olive sales. >> next, j.p. morgan is paying big bucks to put the bernie madoff scandal behind them. whether or not justice was served. why america's prosperity depends upon big banks staying big. the proof okaytive

now you may have heard the unemployment rate fell from 7% to 6.7% in december.hat's the lowest level in more than five years. that's not good news. most that have drop in the unemployment rate is because 347,000 people dropped out of the labor force last month. that's why the labor force participation rate fell in december. the labor force participation rate represents the working age population that is either working or looking for work. this fell a bit last month. you can see down to 62.8%, that's near a 36-year low. now one reason for that is if baby boomers continue to retire. a lot of is that a lot of people are growing discouraged with an economy that is not creating enough jobs so they give up and drop out of the job search. i asked tom perez how we can get people back in the workforce and looking for jobs. >> the workforce participation has been going down over the period of decades. part of the reason we see a reduction in labor force participation is because the population is aging. there are those demographic trends. part of the reason is because we n

the july unemployment numbers, 5.3% unemployment rate. you're down in imperial county right now 26.1% unemployment. we have a state with the fourth highest unemployment in the united states and hundreds of thousands of open jobs right now that we can't fill. we have a system designed over half a century ago for what no longer exists. the conversation that sebastian has been having with the private sector, we are not having that conversation anymore. what does salesforce need or google need? we are not conveying enough of that talent so we can't continue to do what we have done. we have to radically alter the approach. if it takes sebastian to put pressure on all of us, i say bring it on. i think that is a wonderful thing and i am very encouraged by his hard work and i am very enthusiastic about the next phase of his announcement as he scales this at a larger level. >> but it has not always been successful. state?ppened at san jose >> the key to innovation that everyone in the room knows is to try it out and learn from it. >> what has been

the unemployment rate the lowest it has been since october of 2008. at the outset of this great recession we have been struggling to recover from ever since president obama took office. having said that, you pointed out the bad news here. it's not so much that the rate is down but it is down for the long reasons. the lowest since the carter administration. 62.8%, the so-called u-6. that's the real unemployment rate some people term it that combines the unemployed with the underemployed. that has remained static at 3. -- 13.1%. but if the data gives you lemons here in washington and you are a political commune tait for, you try to make legislative lemonade. so they have tried to turn this around and say this is a perfect argument to pass that extended unemployment benefits. he says despite an abundance of evidence that this problem is far from resolved, congress allowed extended unemployment benefits to stop in the end of 2013. so the unemployment rate remains a volatile issue, not -- not just politically, but for the some -- 12 million americans who r

the long-term unemployment rate is 2.6%. the long-term unemployment rate. twice as high as it was at any other time that these extended unemployment benefits were allowed to expire. let me say that again. how urgent this is. the long-term unemployment rate -- that means people who have been out for a long time, six months, six months or more -- is 2.6%, twice as high as it is, as it was at any other time in our history that we extended unemployment benefits. there are almost three unemployed people for every job opening nationwide. let me repeat. there are almost three unemployed people for every job opening nationwide. and we need to understand while some of our republican colleagues are blaming the unemployed and saying it's a disservice to give them unemployment compensation, that these folks are actively looking for jobs. that's part of the deal. first of all, this is insurance. second of all, they're looking for work. third of all, they are stuck in a situation where it is not their fault. a christmas present was given by the republicans to the unemplo

and one other figure to throw at you, the u-6 as it is termed here in washington, or the real unemployment rate, those who are unemployed and maybe looking for a job, that rate holding steady at 13.1%. but they use this opportunity to push the congress to pass that unemployment extension for the long term unemployed. here is jay carney just a little bit ago. >> the short-term employ rate is now roughly at where it was during the last expansion, and maybe a little bit below it. which means the unemployment problem is truly concentrated in the long-term unemployment part of it. and that's something the president has talked about a lot. we're talking about here people who have been unemployed and are looking for a job and have been doing so for a long time. >> reporter: and del earlier in the week we were talking about good news for the white house, and the senate cleared a procedural hurdle to extend that unemployment insurance, it is bogged down again. >> mike viqueira in washington. mike, thank you very much. and college grads having annest officially tough time finding a job. the composition f

the unemployment rate going down does not necessarily mean good news. and the unemployment rate going up does not necessarily mean bad news. it has to do with how many people who could be working are actually looking for jobs. that's something called the labor force participation rate. that dropped again this month. it hit the lowest level since 1978, john. >> the detroit auto show kicks off next week, and ali velshi will be reporting there live monday and tuesday. check him out on "real money" 7:00 p.m. here on al jazeera america. >>> those weak numbers from the labor department have been putting the spotlight on capitol hill once again, the white house calling for long term unemployed benefits. >> reporter: they'll accentuate the positive. it's a ritual here at the white house, the first friday of every month. the white house will point out 46 straight months of job growth and the unemployment rate has sunk, but as ali pointed out it's down for all the wrong reasons. what is the white house going to do with these statistics, this data? they're going t

another percentage point off the national unemployment rate, is it that significant? >> i think if you look at th the decline from the peak in state and government local employment, it probably easy up to three- or four-tenths of the unemployment. i think the good news, though, is that the job declines >> this is start to go turn in a positive direction. >> do we know if those hundreds of thousands of people have been able to find work in the private sector? >> we don't have the precise data to know exactly what these folks are doing. some are unemployed. they're having a difficult time. let's say that you're a teacher, 50 years old, you lost your job in toledo, ohio, i think you're probably having a difficult time getting back in to work. you may one of those folks who are stepping out of the labor force. some are. these are skilled--in many cases these are skilled and educated workers, they'll find other work, but i think they're part of the long-term unemployed and they're having a difficult time. >> mike in new york, along with peter, thanks to all of you for your

the fed says one of the signs they are looking at is the unemployment rate.he trouble is as you say, if the unemployment rate is falling because people are discouraged or they are dropping out, -- [indiscernible] >> let me ask you about tax reform. a lot of talk about it over the last year. >> it is looking less and less likely. one of the main drivers is that you will be heading to china. we will look at all of the expired tax provisions. one man is interested in extending things that will last until december 31. that will be the first bit of action. -- see the first bit of action. you might see long-term plans coming out of the house. it is hard to see a path a tax reform law. >> and taking over the senate finance committee -- >> for people interested in policy, he is a very interesting guy. he dives deep into tax policy and medicare policy and health policy. he is someone who is more liberal than max baucus for sure. he has clashes with other democrats. sometimes over style. >> he is a liberal, but he has worked over the dash across the aisle. we will see.

greeks have europe's highest unemployment rate. some 70 five percent of unemployed people no longer receive any benefits from the state and they have to rely on of unemployed people no longer receive any benefits from the state and they have to rely on family or just on charity. greeks are trying to focus on keeping this social net together as a country. it is crumbling apart. the government promises it will manage [indiscernible] for this year. as far as greeks and their everyday lives are concerned, they are most focused on surviving. >> perhaps they are finally turning the page. let's hope so. skiing schumacher was off course but was not traveling at an excessive speed when he had an accident last month. he remains in a medically induced coma. the impact of his crash split his helmet in two. doctors say that is what saved his life. >> no problems with his skis or .ith slope markers according to french investigators, michael schumacher well that he was skiing off a grooved trail before his accident -- michael schumacher well that

you know where the two lowest unemployment rates in the country are? bismarck, north dakota, and midland, texas, and that's because of the shale energy renaissance that has created jobs. if you can pass a commercial driving license test, you can get a job driving a truck with a high school degree in both of those places and earn between $75,000 and $100,000 a year. lowest unemployment in the country, but this administration's policies have made it harder and harder for those jobs to be created, along with the keystone pipeline and the jobs that that would create. so we need to also reform our tax code to encourage more investment. we need to reward earned success so that small businesses can be started, so existing small businesses can expand and all of the president's policies, including, of course, most notably obamacare, have made that harder. we need to put a -- we need to do what we can, as i said, to expand domestic energy production and create jobs. and we need to reform unemployment insurance and get more people back into the work force by maki

if we see significant declined in the unemployment rate, we look at john growth and they look at unemploymentate moving because people are moving or leaving the labor force. it's important to recognize that the fed does not look at one number. looks at five or six numbers in the market. and it's data dependent. for the next year or two it will be on the easy side. >> we get new unemployment numbers every month, nela. we get gdp numbers once a quarter. how often does the fed revisit decisions like this one? >> i think they're constantly revisiting. there are stories that alan greenspan would go into using technical data and obscure data to make decisions. i don't think benbe bernanke does the se thing but there are economist who is are scouring data probably as we speak looking for news about what direction the economy is going, and i think along with some guidance on interest rates ben bernanke gave us a forecast on the economy that was new, ands have optimistic. this is where my doubt starts to creep in. is the economy going to be as strong in 2014 as was laid out today? >> could he be seein

. >> if you look at the unemployment rate it is down 7%. if you look at budget deficits, we've slashed those. why does this still feel like we're stuck in a pretty lousy position? >> 7% unemployment rate is too high. we lost far too many jobs in the great recession. we have a long way to go before the economy is back to full health. i think it is important to try to build on the progress that we've seen. >> we saw 13 states increase their minimum wage as of january 1st. what have you learned about the study? >> minimum wage increases tend to have very little if any effect on unemployment. moderate increases tend to lead the higher wages, but have very little impact on unemployment. >> we're still trying to get our arms around the changes with affordable care act. what do you think the impact is going to be on the economy this year? >> the rollout of the affordable care act has some bumps to it. we are seeing some definite positives for the economy. we're seeing an increase in access to health insurance, particularly for young people, who ga

unemployment rate, 6.7%, down .3. that was because people left the work force. you can see the decline in the labor participation rate at 62.8%. this number comes amid a slew of other indicators such as strength in the economy. in fact, macro economic advisors moments ago revised up its estimate of fourth quarter growth to 3.7% after better than expected inventory numbers. hard to have the weak jobs numbers with strong growth numbers. goldman sachs remains upbeat. >> it is a weak report. however, you look at all of the other indicators that are coming in and those are quite consistent i think with the idea that the economy is accelerating to a faster pace. second half of 2013 was quite strong from a gdp perspective. other indicators weren't quite as strong. but in general, there has been a nice sort of acceleration over the last six months. >> if there was weather, it probably showed up in the construction numbers, down 16,000. government also adding to the decline. manufacturing, okay. services look good but in a service economy, you have to do better than that

about the african-american unemployment rate, the participation rate also at a low that goes back some 35 years. 3.5 decades. >> these are conversations we should be having. if you factor in african-american males with a high school degree or less, you're talking about a 25% to 30% unemployment rate. you add incarceration levels and difficulty in finding jobs and if you don't have skills of information technology, you're left with very low paying retail jobs or no jobs. we talk about the revival of manufacturing in this country. that's not a drive of jobs anymore. that's people with software skills that can handle manufacturing. so there's a racial component to this. there's a gender component. women are doing better overall than men as you pointed out some ethic groups are doing better. we should talk about education. we should talk about the racial issues. we should talk about inhibitions to job creation for those that this is hurting. this is 50th anniversary of war on poverty. there's more endemic job issue in certain parts of the country. that's the real question. whether we added

the unemployment rate is coming down, but the amount of people looking for work is at a record low. those out of work for an extended period of time now have no safety net. >> veronica is caught in the crossfire of the new economy. she is one of the 3 million americans who are out of work for more than a year. that $1200 a month has been an economic lifeline. >> not having that money is devastating. i don't know where i'm going to get money to pay my rent, to buy food, to pay car insurance. it's -- it almost leaves me speechless just trying to articulate what it means not to have that money to fall back on. >> reporter: what's next for her? it's complicated. armed with a phd in law enforcement, it was not that long ago when she was earning more than $75,000 a year, owned a condo, and was saving for retirement, but her contract jobs with nonprofits dried up when the sluggish economy meant less grant money available. >> i have to have a job. you cannot survive in this world without it, so i have to keep pushing myself. >> reporter: now she's working with a state run job placement prog

with the unemployment rate dropping sharply, they can't be in the position where the unemployment rate is at 6.5%. they haven't started tapering yet. they are over that. and taperings, we are on it, we're on this boat and nothing's going to change this direction, really. we're tapering into zero by the end of the year. and it's all about ford guidance from this point. whether they alter their guidan guidance, we'll wait and see. >> piers, stay there. we'll look at the airbus numbers feeding through. i'm going to give you a quick look at those. airbus saying they are beating boeing on orders. remember, john strickland said it's a pr exercise, watch out for that. but they are saying they have taken 1,619 gross orders, delivering 626 jets. they aim to sell 30 in 2014. they plan to ramp that up from 2018, in particular. they plan the first a350 deliveries in 2014. we knew that already. and they are saying they are reiterating the a350 break even by the decade end. so by 2020. and confirming a380 break-ins by then. so both of those things are what we have heard before. they are posting reco

created 175 thousand thousand jobs. >> folks may not realize that the way the jobs survey and the unemployment rate, there two different surveys. the labor participation rate is a continuing trend. how troubled of you by this 36-year low in the labor participation rate? >> the decline is due in large part to baby boomers who necessary their late 50s and 60s. >> when you say a large part, can you put a percentage on that. >> participation rates since the recession rate hit five or six years ago. i am rounding so i don't know exactly. of that, 2 percentage points is due to this retirement. the baby boomers retiring. a percentage point and that's a lot of people, 1.5 million people. that's what i call cyclical. they are discouraged and should be in the workforce, but they don't feel like they will find a job that will compensate for child care and food cost and everything. that represents -- the reality is the unemployment rate, 6.7% misrepresents the state of the job market. should you add in another point, it's seven points. that's the health of the job market. by the way, that's bad. if you go back

nevada has 9% unemployment rate. very high above the national average.io and senator dan coats, typically a hard line republican that votes with his party, also has an above average unemployment rate. >> coats was the biggest surprise for a lot of insiders. kelly, i want to turn it to you. you heard what i said from the speaker boehner, so what chances, if any, does this have in the house? >> look, i think this puts republicans actually in a short-term versus long-term electoral quandary. in the short-term, this is a good issue to gin up the tea party base who hates this extension, but in the long term, we have something really interesting happening in this country that my colleague at "the daily beast" wrote an interesting piece about. historically, you have blue collar and working class voter and white collar and educated voters. millennials are the first generation of extremely educated white collar people who are struggling like working class people, so for them, this is the type of issue in terms of the long-term electoral, this is an issue that's h

faced ahe recession men higher unemployment rate than in 2009nd it peaked while the unemployment rate for 1.1%?never exceeded >> we have run out of time, can provide a brief answer? >> the basic answer that we found is that there is no very strong pattern of job growth being concentrated in male or female dominated industries and it does seem to be a simple industry mix story. >> commissioner, thank you for your presentation. this is a cakewalk. we look forward to having you back. best of luck in retirement and the hearing is adjourned. >> the committee meeting to hear the jobs numbers for december, 74,000 jobs added, and the unemployment rate falling from seven percent in november 2 6.7%, the lowest level since october 2008. the government believes fewer americans are looking for jobs in december. the issue of unemployment came up several times in the white house briefing. here is part of that from today's briefing with jay carney. >> the jobs numbers, j, i seem to remember you at the podium not long ago showing us charts of job growth over the -- last couple of years and the implica

yet it pushes down the overall unemployment rate. the unemployment rate falls from 7% to 6.7%. what does it mean? christine romans is our chief business correspondent. i'm also joined by david wessell and director of the hutchins center on capital and monetary policy at the brookings institution and our cnn global economist and "time" magazine assistant managing editor. i'm out of breath. christine, let's start with you. break down the numbers for us. >> really a big shocker because so many economists have been sharpening their pencils the numbers look good, strong way to end out 2013. we think it could be the strongest job growth since 2005. that didn't happen. when you look, carol, you can see it was a tiny bit of job creation at the end of the year. really bucking the trend. weakest month to end the year since 2011. here's what happened. labor department says weather played a factor kept some people home. when you look at the household survey another part of this number, you can see that a lot of people dropped out. they stopped looking for work. that's a big part of the sto

the jobs data from december came out friday showing the unemployment rate drop to 6.7% and only 74,000 jobs added to payrolls.. but the market was nearly paralyzed on which way to go. the dow fell a point the nasdaq up 18 and the s&p by 4. gold showed some strength up $17 dollars and oil gained $1.03. bank of america is changing its work rules.following the death of an intern--reuters reports the rules involving days off for employees. and, united airlines suffers a computer complication that left 1,500 flight grounded. sources says it has to do with the airline's merger with continental. phillip streible of rjo futures joins us now with what to expect from this trading day on this monday morning. good morning to you phillip. >>good morning to you. >>the market had a rather muted reaction to the jobs number on friday. will we get any kind of reaction today? >>i think we're gonna see the market start to move higher. i think that news is digested. a lot of people were scratching their heads all weekend. thinking about how that number could come in at 74 thousand when most analysts were e

, and then there are someplaces that may still have a 7, 8, 9% unemployment rate. the people living in those respective states may be working equally hard to find a job, but it is going to be harder in some places than others. two weeks ago congress went home for the holidays and let this lifeline expire for 1.3 million americans. if this doesn't get fixed it will hurt about 14 million americans over the course of this year. 5 million workers along with 9 million of their family members, their spouses, their kids. now i have heard the argument that says extending unemployment insurance will hurt the unemployed because it zaps their desire to get a new job. i want -- i want to go at this for a second. [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> i -- you know, i . . . that really sells the american people short. i meet a lot of people as president of the united states. and as candidate for president of the united states, and as a u.s. senator, and a state senator, i have met a lot of people. and i can't -- i can't name a time where i met an american who would rather have an unemplo

you're looking at all of this, floyd, democrats who might pounce on a lower unemployment rate, too so at their own risk. why? >> the numbers were disappointing. the 74,000 number was less than half of what was expected, and as all of the analysts pointed out, it was the job rate is going down. the unemployment rate is going down. largely because people are stopping looking for work. they were looking for the economy to be the number one issue in 2014 to distract from the terrible numbers that are coming out of polls on obamacare. they need it. and since the debate over the budget -- the budget deal in november, -- pardon me -- in december -- it's been clear that the republicans have been winning most of the polls in terms of who is better on the economy. republicans or obama. so this is -- i think it's very disappointing for 2014 and disappointing for his state of the union speech which he gives at the end of the month. he is definitely trying to shape that environment as sort of a turn-around. he wants to reboot with that speech and start 2014 in a very positive way, and this didn't

the key point in their statement in december was that even after the unemployment rate gets to 6.5%, s low well past the moment when the unemployment rate gets to 6.5%. so i think they have been saying over and over again -- it's kind of like, you know, 6.5% is kind of like the starter gun. that's when they start having the debate internally. i think this report is a real problem for them today because they weren't expecting to even have to have the conversation until the second half of this year, and now the gun might go off in february. it's a real problem for them. >> i think big picture this just points to how much of a box that the fed may well have gotten themselves into with trying to do all this monetary engineering that we've done over the last five years. they don't really know where it's going. i think it's creating some confusion and some uncertainty in the market which is the bottom line is how did this all affect investors. and i think from an investors' standpoint, it's going to be a very confusing year when you have all these different cross currents going on. >> jon a

the unemployment rate dropped from twenty five percent when f.d.r. took office to nine point six percent by the time he was elected four years later to his second term in nine hundred thirty six. unemployment did shoot back up again during the many recession of thirty seven thirty eight but it did that because roosevelt dial back those programs in response to republican screaming about. three . of the programs back in place and thirty eight unemployment dropped again not surprisingly at surge in employment helped out the economy g.d.p. grew at a rate of nine percent per year over f.d.r.'s first term and grew as high as eleven percent per year later on in his presidency and i'm not talking about world war two g.d.p. growth slowed during that many recession of thirty seven thirty eight but like the unemployment rate got back on track after the recession ended by the way many economists including nobel prize winner paul krugman say that that many recession of thirty seven thirty eight was as i mentioned caused by the government drawing back on their own

we saw that the actual unemployment rate, everybody talks about 6.7%. that's because 347,000 workers dropped out. they just said, i'm not going to do it anymore. i'm not going to look. the real unemployment rate is 13.1% when you count people who are working part time, who don't want to be, who aren't looking at all. >> so this is a jobless recovery if ever there was one. with anemic economic growth on an annualized basis. >> it is very difficult. if you look at who is being hurt the most, the lack of job hopping is not happening because there's more women in the workplace or because older people are staying longer because they can't retire. those are not the issues. it is broad in every single age group. but it is young men who are hurt the most right now. they used to make 85% -- ten years ago they made 85% of the average annual wage. now it is only 58%. >> you know, the united states has thighest corporate. at a rate in the world. it stands at 39.1%. a lot of people say, well, come. on businesses don't really pay that because of all the loopholes. no

we've lower the unemployment rate largely because work force participation rate has gone down as more more workers are to longer counted because they are no longer looking for work. if the work force participation rate today were as high as it was when the recession began, the unemployment rate would be 11.3% and we wouldn't be calling it a poor recovery because it wouldn't be a recovery at all. >> so what do you make of this? do you think he's accurate? good assessment on point? >> are you talking about george will or barack obama? >> both. >> president obama says the economy is growing and unemployment is going down and everything is great, so why we would continue to increase the amount of money we turn over to people in food stamps and why are welfare rolls getting bigger and bigger. when things get better, you are supposed to pull back on those programs but that doesn't seem to happen. george will is right, with the labor participation rate at the lowest level in 40 years and if you add the people that have left the work force and if you add them back into the work force, the une

the unemployment rate fell to 6.7%. that's the lowest in five years but that drop isn't necessarily a good thing. only 74,000 jobs were added last month. also the lowest in years by far, way below expectations. our senior white house correspondent brianna keilar has been monitoring these numbers for us. overall, i think most economists were disappointed, weren't they? >> yes, they were. 74,000 jobs added in december. the economy has to add a lot more than that to keep pace with population and this is the worst since january of 2011. white house officials, though, are trying to assuage concerns by pointing to the over job numbers for december. >> what it does represent is 46 consecutive months of private sector job creation. 8.2 million jobs. that reinforces that we need to continue to have job growth, economic security, economic mobility as our top priority and those priorities are the preside president's priorities and he wants to advance an agenda that delivers on those priorities. >> the unemployment rate, as you men

our unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in more than five years. our deficits have been cut in half. housing is rebounding. manufacturing is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. and we sell more of what we make

that's why the unemployment rate has fallen to 6.7. >> that's right. it's actually much higher because people are leaving the labor force. >> it's a real issue. i think they will get the unemployment benefits extended. it's for republicans, it splits the moderate liberal republicans off from the base. obama knows that. it's the same as the minimum wage. republicans aught to realize they will have real problems coming down the road on this income inequality issue and how they will deal with it. >> it's not a coincidence as they are from the two states that have the highest unemployment rates. and okay, look for a way to pay for it, but this is a program that was called an emergency program, emergency unemployment that started under bush. it was not paid for then and it has been extended when the unemployment rate was lower than it is now. >> i want your opinion on this, eleanor. since you seem to be keyed up on this issue. those long-term unemployment insurance discourage people from taking lower paying republican jobs. listen to this, eleanor. >> i do t

the unemployment rate in colorado has dropped from 9 percent in 2010 to 6.5 percent, outpacing the national rate. unemployment in both grand junction and greeley has dropped by even more, by more than 30 percent. but let's be clear, the unemployment rate is not low enough, and all of us share a commitment to keep a statewide focus on this issue. more jobs all over colorado is our highest priority. [ applause ] >> as some of you know, i took what you might call an unconventional path into running for office. i started out here in colorado as a geologist. during a downturn, everyone in our company got laid off. next thing i knew i was making beer and starting a brewpub business. it turned out pretty well. but as every small business person knows, it's not easy out there, especially when bureaucracy gets in the way. i didn't run for public office until i was 50. before that, i'd never run for anything. not even in high school. i ran for public office as a small businessman. i thought government needed to operate with more common sense and less nonsense. so while we have been doing all we can t

the unemployment rate is going to fall half a point. ther quarter point. >> what does the janet yellen fed think of these numbers this morning. >> i think they are going to worry a little bit that maybe they were too quick off the mark on tapering. >> that's what i've been saying. >> i think they'll come back more or less perhaps not as optimistic as mark said but. >>ing through the last few numbers. the payroll numbers being weak, the drop in the unemployment rate suggesting that the economy has less slack than they've been assuming. i think that also one of the interesting things that was not picked up widely from the minutes this week, from the last fed meeting, most people on the fed seem to believe there's a declining marginal benefit from quantitative easing. if they were worried about the economy, they wouldn't see reason to crank that back up again. >> i wonder if you take what bernanke is saying at face value. we don't know what yellen is saying about this. they'd lik or pivot from using qe as the main tool, as using forward rat

it comes down, the unemployment rate would really be 6.2 today. the labor force? maybe they eventually will but it is not a sign of economic distress. we're creating too many payroll jobs every year. i can't believe the economy is that weak. tracy: but if you have, even with all of this, ashley and i talk about this all the time, there is a lack of confidence in the economy still what goes on in washington. sandra, how does the economy keep going even though everything is in place to do so? >> to tie in one other number to describe business spending, they called it subdued. so there were some areas of concerns that they pointed out there that they weren't pointing such a rosy picture all around. hey, at the end of the day, their biggest job right now as far as managing financial markets, so they don't tighten up as we're seeing markets sell off on this is going to give markets some sort of a timeline. we are uncertain, we're way back into the ball game on good news, bad news, et cetera, et cetera. tracy: you guys are awesome. charles, sandra, chri

from an eighty percent unemployment rate to an average life expectancy of fifty years old. to a pine ridge reservation in south dakota say some of the most harrowing statistics in the united states but behind these numbers are says silent anime that's decimating families and threatening the oglala way of life alcohol for the vast majority of the reservations one hundred twenty five year history alcohol has been banned despite this ban pine ridges alcoholism rate is estimated to be as high as eighty percent alcohol is infiltrating the tribe from a border town just two miles away only about twelve people live here in whiteclay nebraska but in two thousand and twelve the four stores located right next to pine ridge sold over one hundred sixty thousand cases of beer and that beer is generating an enormous profits for both store owners and the state of nebraska. any where from. three to five million dollars being made every year but two leaves in the country none of white clay store owners would talk to us on camera but it's clear that this i popping revenue in an economically d

have much more online, including "the solomon scale," paul solomon's own calculation of the unemployment rate, plus economists weigh in with a look at the unemployment trends across last year and for the future. >> woodruff: hundreds of thousands of citizens in west virginia are heading into the weekend dealing with a major water emergency caused by a chemical spill. even as it's disrupting lives, officials are still trying to get a handle on just what happened. hari sreenivasan has the story. >> reporter: ground zero is this freedom industries plant that makes chemicals for the mining, steel and cement industries. state inspectors say a foaming agent used in coal preparation leaked from a 40,000 gallon tank yesterday. some of it overran a containment area, and ended up in the elk river. an estimated 300,000 people are affected in nine counties, many of them reporting a smell like black licorice. emergency hotline centers like this one are fielding calls. >> we've had some complaints about eyes burning, things of that nature. best advice is to stay inside right now until they get this taken c

yes, we see the unemployment rate plummeting like a stone as you said to me but what is going on as far as the duration of unemployment? that's almost doubled since the crisis. is the u.s. out of the woods yet? >> not completely but remember in 2010 both the u.s. and europe were having up employment of about 10%. since then europe's unemployment went up to 12% plus and u.s. unemployment went down to 6.7%. is this the time to celebrate in the u.s.? well it is good news but as you indicated, a very large proportion of this improvement came from people who left the labor force. they were discouraged. labor force participation has declined significantly and therefore the effort to draw them back into the labor force is a structural issue and indeed the duration of unemployment is the key challenge. today, about 35% or even more of those who are unemployed have been already unemployed for more than six months. that's a very large challenge because it is not easy for these people to come back to gainful employment even if the tide goes up. therefore, the challenge is job retraining all the ti

a 7 unemployment rate. they may be working equally hard to find a job, but it will be harder in some places than others. two weeks ago, congress went home for the holidays. they let the lifeline expire for 1.3 million americans. not get fixed, it will hurt about 14 million americans over the course of this year. with 9on workers along million of their family members, their spouses, their kids. i have heard the argument that says extending unemployment insurance will somehow hurt the unemployment because it saps their motivation to get a new job. i want to go at this for a second. [applause] that really sells the american people short. i mean a lot of people as president of the united states. et a lot of people as president of the united states. i cannot name a time where i have met an american who would rather have an unemployment having an the pride of job. [applause] the long-term unemployment -- unemployed are not lazy. they are coping with the aftermath of the worst economic crisis in generations. some