Gallup reports that unemployment has jumped from 8.3% to 9.0% and underemployment has soared from 18.7% in mid-January to 19.0% now. That makes perfect sense because retail seasonal workers have been let go and nobody seems to be hiring.

Gallup also posted this caution:

Regardless of what the government reports, Gallup’s unemployment and underemployment measures show a sharp deterioration in job market conditions since mid-January. This is consistent with a similar decline in Gallup’s Job Creation Index to +13 in the second week of February, from +16 for January. It is also consistent with an economy that continues to struggle with modest growth, particularly as gas prices surge. Further, it suggests that it is premature to assume the condition of the economy will not remain a major issue for Americans both financially and politically in 2012.

Despite Gallup’s caution, wire services found a way to avoid a negative subject:

Unemployment aid applications stay at 4-year low

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking unemployment aid was unchanged last week and the four-week average of applications fell to its lowest point in four years. The figures add to evidence that show the job market is improving.

Jobless claims hold steady at 4-year low

(Reuters) - New claims for unemployment benefits were unchanged last week, holding at the lowest level since the early days of the 2007-2009 recession and giving a fresh sign the battered labor market is healing.

Soooo, instead of leading off their reports with unemployment numbers and percentages – as they did when those numbers dropped when retailers hired seasonal workers (unemployment dropped from 9.0% to 8.3%) – they now “report” (to drive-by voters) a number that has very little to do with the current unemployment rate.

In most states laid off seasonal workers don’t qualify for unemployment because they worked less than six months. Also, those already on the unemployment rolls but took seasonal jobs and have now been laid off again (and resumed collecting unemployment benefits) don’t count as “new claims” and therefore are not included in the BLS numbers that the wire services cherry-picked for their Obama agitprop.

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