Unemployment and The Election (Business)

With the upcoming election and the slowly dropping unemployment rate and jobless claims figures, there is a lot of speculation about whether or not the perceived connection between President Obama and these economic indicators will influence the election. It can be quite hard to discern whether the fluctuations in these rates point to actual economic improvement, or if they are just arbitrary revisions. When reading a recent issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, I read piece that suggested that a better indicator of the health of the economy is the actual employment, rather than UNemployment rate. This makes sense because of the fact that, after a certain number of weeks of unemployment, individuals are removed from the statistics and no longer considered part of the work force, meaning that they are not considered as "seeking employment" because they have been unemployed for so long. While Obama has long been a proponent of job creation, the general consensus is that the new job creation in both the private and public sectors is barely enough to keep up with the rate of population growth. These figures are essential to business because they indicate the overall health and strength of the economy. When jobless claims and the unemployment rate drop, it is a good sign that companies are confident and therefore hiring is up. It also leads to increased consumer confidence, which boosts sales. Overall, if these rates continue to perform favorably, business owners may be more likely to vote for Obama.