The folks over at ZeroHedge continue to do the digging which the LSM will not.
Their comparison of BLS numbers for employment versus Treasury receipts reveals a disturbing trend.
During a period when BLS reported employment on the rise, Treasury reported less withholding collected from that larger work force.
So, either the BLS numbers are seriously fudged, or wages are deflating.
A “Quality Assessment” Of US Jobs Reveals The Ugliest Picture Yet
By Tyler Durden | ZeroHedge
Over the past week we have repeatedly exposed the BLS’ shennanigans to both keep the headline unemployment rate suppressed and to generate an upward bias in the market courtesy of a “bigger than expected beat” of expectations. Granted, various semantics experts continue to scratch their heads in attempting to explain a collapsing labor force when even Goldman’s Sven Jari Stehn just predicted that it will drop to 63.1% by the end of 2012 (and 62.5% by the end of 2015). Funny then that the US will have no unemployment left when the participation rate drops to 58.5%. And no, the “population soared argument based on revised data” doesn’t quite cut it when the bulk of said surge not only did not get a job, but was not even counted toward the labor force. Yet what the biggest flaw with all these arguments that vainly (and veinly) attempt to defend the US economy as if it is growing, is that they focus exclusively on the quantity of jobs, doctored or not, and completely ignore the quality. We have decided to step in and fill this void.
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In other words, the US Treasury collected $310 million more in tax withholdings in the first 4 months of fiscal 2011 than in the first 4 months of fiscal 2012.
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More importantly, between January 31, 2011 and January 31, 2012 the US added 1,953,000 jobs.
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- The 130.456MM workers “employed” at January 31, 2011 created a total of $592.985MM in withholdings, or on average of $4,545.48 per worker over the first 4 months of the fiscal year 2011.
- The 132.409MM workers “employed” at January 31, 2012 created a total of $592.675MM in withholdings, or on average of $4,476.09 per worker over the first 4 months of the fiscal year 2012.
That indicates a 1.5% drop in taxable income (wage deflation). Some recovery.
Click over and read the whole thing.
Hat Tip: Aussie Torres on Google +
