Right-wing media rush to trumpet “key number” of 9.9 percent unemployment

Jim Hoft: “Unemployment jumps to 9.9%. ... How's that hopey-changey stuff treating you?” In a May 7 Gateway Pundit post, headlined “Unemployment jumps to 9.9%,” blogger Jim Hoft wrote “how's that hopey-changey stuff treating you” and then quoted from an Associated Press article noting the increase in unemployment -- including their reporting that unemployment rose mainly because discouraged workers resumed their job searches.

Drudge: “Unemployment up to 9.9%” On May 7, the top post on the Drudge Report read “Unemployment up to 9.9%.” The post linked to the AP article on the jobs numbers.

Doocy: Unemployment rate is “key number” and “not good news.” On the May 7 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy called the unemployment rate the “key number” and stated that it is “not good news”:

DOOCY: Meanwhile, we're looking at the wires right now. The April unemployment rate just came out. It is at 9.9. That is up two-tenths from March. That is not good news. But 290,000 jobs were created last month. That's 90,000 more than the experts thought. Many more people are coming back into the job market than it can handle, just at the moment, some have felt. But the key number there, 9.9 unemployment.

Economists: "[A] strong report," “far more” jobs than expected

Economist: “This is unambiguously a strong report.” The New York Times reported MF Global chief economist James O'Sullivan's statement that “This is unambiguously a strong report for growth implications. ... It adds to the evidence that the pickup in growth is leading to a clear-cut pickup in employment. It is very clear there has been a bounce here, and momentum has been up.' ”

Reuters: Increase in jobs “far more than analysts had expected.” A May 7 Reuters article reported that the "[a]nalysts polled by Reuters had expected nonfarm payrolls to rise 200,000," 90,000 less than reported:

Employers added 290,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department said on Friday, far more than analysts had expected. The department also revised figures for February and March to show 121,000 more jobs were added than previously thought.

The unemployment rate, however, rose to 9.9 percent as discouraged workers re-entered the labor force to look for work.

[...]

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected nonfarm payrolls to rise 200,000 last month and the jobless rate to remain unchanged at 9.7 percent.

The median forecast from the 20 most accurate forecasters was for a payrolls increase of 188,000.

Unemployment uptick reportedly due to previously discouraged workers resuming their search for work

AP: Unemployment increased “mainly because 805,000 jobseekers -- perhaps feeling better about their prospects -- resumed their searches for work.” The May 7 Associated Press article linked to by Drudge and Hoft reported: “The unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent in March to 9.9 percent in April, mainly because 805,000 jobseekers -- perhaps feeling better about their prospects -- resumed their searches for work.”

Economist O'Sullivan: Unimployment increase “more than accounted for” by labor force surge." The Times reported O'Sullivan's statement, “Of course one of the headlines is that the unemployment rate rose, but the rise was more than accounted for by a surge in the labor force.”

By contrast, other conservatives call the jobs report “good news”

WSJ's Moore: “It's mostly good news.” On the May 7 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, The Wall Street Journal's Steve Moore called the report “mostly good news,” and “the largest gain we've seen in a month since 2006”:

MOORE: It's mostly good news, Bill. I mean, this big jobs number, 300,000 or so jobs nearly, that's really good news, given how bad the numbers have been for the last couple of years. I think I saw this morning that this was the largest job gain we've seen in a month since 2006. So it does look like employers are finally starting to hire people. But let's not set aside the big number here, Bill. We still have one out of 10 Americans in the labor force who are not find a job.

Joe Scarborough: "[T]here is good economic news here." On the May 7 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough said that “there is good economic news” in the jobs report:

SCARBOROUGH: Mika, there is good economic news here, the fact that we've added more jobs than anytime in over four years. Sixty-six thousand of those jobs Census jobs, but 230,000 jobs -- new jobs in the private sector. But Pat Buchanan, as you and Sam Stein had predicted earlier before we got the news, the big problem here, the reason why -- the 9.9 percent number -- that's the headline, that's the political number, that has the impact. But that's because more Americans, 800,000 Americans, feel better about their job prospects and are actually looking for jobs for the first time in a long time.

Buchanan: "[T]his is almost unvarnished good news." Pat Buchanan responded to Scarborough by saying: “Sure, all those folks who are not only unemployed but quit looking for work, Joe, they're coming back in because they say 'Hey, folks are hiring.' I think this is almost unvarnished good news, the top number looks a little bad, 9.9, but you have 200 -- almost 300,000 more people at work. That's good news.”