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U.S. unemployment picture at a glance: August, 2011
The U.S. job situation in August is a carbon copy of July (which was revised today to 85,000 new jobs instead of the previously reported 117,000), the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning. The nation's unemployment rate held at 9.1 percent for the month.
But if you look at the labor force as a whole there are a few other stories to tell. For instance, the number of Americans working part-time jumped to 8.8 million from 8.4 million, the BLS reported.
"Those employers who needed some extra hands, they hired part-timers," said Jill Schlesinger, editor-at-large at CBS/Moneywatch.
The above infographic represents the total U.S. population that's eligible to work, not counting the military, the incarcerated, or those under the age of 16 (also known as the Civilian noninstitutional population). There are 239.87 million Americans that fit this profile, slightly more than last month.
The colors break it down by those who are employed full or part-time (shades of green) and those who are unemployed (red). Combined, that equals the total labor force, which rose to about 153.6 million in August. The remaining stick figures represent those who are not counted in the labor force either because they don't want to work, they stopped looking for work, or they're still looking but discouraged.
This data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly employment report. You can explore the numbers for yourself. We started with Summary Table A. Household data, seasonally adjusted.
For more analysis on today's jobs report, listen to our interview with CBS/MoneyWatch's Jill Schlesinger where she discusses what President Obama can do to spark job creation. And read her blog post to see why she says Obama blew it on jobs.
Hands down, Apple's app store wins by a mile. It's a huge selection of all sorts of apps vs a rather sad selection of a handful for Zune. Microsoft has plans, especially in the realm of games, but I'm not sure I'd want to bet on the future if this aspect is important to you. The iPod is a much better choice in that case.
The Zune concentrates on being a Portable Media Player. Not a web browser. Not a game machine. Maybe in the future it'll do even better in those areas, but for now it's a fantastic way to organize and listen to your music and videos, and is without peer in that regard. The iPod's strengths are its web browsing and apps. If those sound more compelling, perhaps it is your best choice.
This is getting a bit more subjective, but I much prefer the Zune Marketplace. The interface is colorful, has more flair, and some cool features like 'Mixview' that let you quickly see related albums, songs, or other users related to what you're listening to. Clicking on one of those will center on that item, and another set of "neighbors" will come into view, allowing you to navigate around exploring by similar artists, songs, or users. Speaking of users, the Zune "Social" is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them. You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable. Those concerned with privacy will be relieved to know you can prevent the public from seeing your personal listening habits if you so choose.
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