Sort Through the Employment Statistics

With so much gossip and untruths aboutemployment and unemployment, hereis the real story. The jobless rate was5.4% at the end of September, wellbelow the long-term average. This is also a tad belowwhat it was when President Clinton ran for reelectionin 1996, when almost everyone thought the Americaneconomy was doing well.

New Job Creation

One key point, which involves people like us, isthat new jobs are being created at a relatively fast pacein small businesses. However, a lot of these jobs don'tshow up on the radar screen, at least not at first blush.No government agency can possibly know how manypeople we employ if we use independent consultants,so if we add these employees to our fold, they don'tshow up as newly employed.

Strong Work Force

Example:

The United States has a stronger work force andfar lower unemployment than government statisticslead us to believe. Maybe one day the numbers willcatch up with reality. In 1996, whenPresident Clinton ran for reelection, 5 million peoplesaid they were working part-time and wanted to workmore. Now, 8 years later and with a larger population,4.3 million people are saying the same thing. Ifyou consider that, things are looking positive.

BusinessWeek

In addition, the 4.8% growth in real gross domesticproduct for the past dozen months is faster than inany such period in the Clinton years. An article instates, "This growth will be felt in risingincomes in the months ahead."

The economy isn't nearly as bad as the mediawould like us to believe, despite the latest statistics. Infact, the US economy is fairly strong right now andshould continue to grow stronger.

is chairman of Staton Financial Advisors LLC, a money management firm. Contact him to

join his free weekly "Dollar-Bill Club"and receive a no-obligation trial to his weekly "E-Money Digest."

He welcomes questions or comments at 704-365-2122, bill@billstaton.com, or via fax at 704-365-1910. Mary Staton recently coauthored with Bill Worry-Free

Family Finances (McGraw-Hill; 2003), which is available at www.billstaton.com and at all bookstores.

Bill Staton