In March of this year, New York City's unemployment rate was 9.8%. In March of last year, it was 8.6%. Yet Mayor Bloomberg quotes statistics showing we've regained 180% of the jobs lost since the recession began. That, my friends, is Bloomberg 101. Ignore the negatives, finesse the positives, then control the headlines.

The nationwide unemployment rate fell from 8.2% in March to 8.1% in April, but analysts say the drop is mainly because more people gave up looking for work. The Labor Department reported this morning that 115,000 jobs were added last month, fewer than the 154,000 added in March.

Nationally, 43% of the jobs lost since the recession began have been regained. But here in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg says that number is 180%, and "more people are employed in the City than ever before." The Mayor says private employment is at the highest level ever in New York City, with 3,291,000 residents holding jobs. What do you say?

Are you celebrating the drop in the unemployment rate, or is the slow decline an inaccurate measure of the job market? What's your reaction to the statistics on New York City's job creation? How will the jobless rate affect your vote in November?

Send your thoughts using the link above.

The Mayor has gone from spin to just pure lies on this subject it seems. As someone who has been unemployed for almost two years and I can tell you these jobs must be the best kept secrets out there. According to reports on or around April 21 New York City's unadjusted unemployment rate was 10.2%, with the Bronx having a 14.1% rate and Brooklyn coming in at 10.8%. Only the Mayor's precious Manhattan came in near the national average of 8.5%, and I am sure most of those are his rich buddies and out-of town businessmen he caters to. His campaign of gentrification and fiscal destruction on the minorities and middle class have worked very well, leaving more places for his people to buy and take for themselves.

As for how it will affect my voting, I pretty much have given up on any of the politicians. The Democrats in New York especially are no better than the Republicans. They all get fat off of tax payers money and continue to do absolutely nothing year in and year out. The Mayor and the Governor of New York have waged war on the working class people, made unions the scapegoat and basically looked the other way while corrupt businesses have ripped people off, and nobody says a word to them. Pretty soon all that will be left in this city are the rich, and the undocumented workers they pay to watch their kids and elderly parents while they go feed their greed, and a few servants to clean up after them and deliver their food. What a disgusting plantation this city has turned into....

RL
The Bronx

The mayor doesn't say that the workers who have jobs have stagnant wages and many people are earning less than they did a decade ago for the same work, while the cost of living keeps going up. Income inequality in new York is greater than in Cairo Egypt.

Mike
Chinatown

LET US NOW SEE THE UNDEREMPLOYED STATS. IF YOU WERE A LAID OFF AD EXEC AND NOW WORK IN A FAST FOOD RESTAURANT, YOU ARE PART OF THE BLOOMBERG SUCCESS STORY. CHINA IS DOING A WONDERFUL JOB IN REBUILDING AMERICA'S BRIDGES AND USING THEIR INFERIOR STEEL TO DO SO. WHEN THE CHINA STEEL STARTS TO WEAKEN, YOU WILL SEE ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A SUCCESS STORY.

JOE, BAY TERRACE

John,

I do not know about the national average,but I was just laid off, from a temp project last Wednesday,and I feel as though unemployment will go back up over the Summer. I did however notice,more jobs being advertised then this past Autumn,when I started looking again in earnest on Thursday.

Rick "The Everyman"
U.E.S.

My reaction to the unemployment numbers is that the job market is improving, but it would be much improved if the republicans had not obstructed all the job creation measures which the president outlined and which they had supported initially. And as to the city jobs recovery being at 180%, where, where, ???

Felix
Bay Ridge

What job market ? where ? Bunch of Hooey. Thats all there is to say.

Bah Humbug,
Esmerelda, East Village, NYC

This has been an ongoing game w/the unemployment numbers. I still know too many people looking unsuccessfully for work and the fact that their benefits have run out means they're not counted in these statistics. This is especially true for older workers.

Teri
Jackson Heights

Hi John,

This mayor just comes up with any figure he feels like and since we all have his number he should realize by now that we don't believe anything he says. He's so sneaky with everything he does and he needs to stop insulting us and treating us like we are nothing in this world. The experts explained everything to the audience as soon as all of the figures came out this morning. I thought he was and expert. He is an expert only at making money for himself and the hell with the rest of us.

Thank you John,
maxxiee
mp

John,

One item on the rundown is “Jobs Report Finds U. S. Hiring Slows Sharply.” Where does Bloomberg get his statistics showing, the opposite? Nobody really believes government statistics. Well, I don’t.

Joe
Port Richmond, SI

Unemployment dropped .1%. If we wanna see real progress we need to get rid of New York's most powerful 1%er...Bloomberg.

Jeremy
Forest Hills

I don't feel it yet and have spent so much of my savings and used up so much credit that I'm not sure when I'll recover. My business is tied to real estate and this segment has not recovered.

Brenda
Forest Hills

What kind of jobs is the Mayor preening himself over - real jobs that pay a livable wage plus benefits, or subsistence wage jobs with no benefits?

Frances
East Village

The new jobs are going to immigrants from china and india. New yorkers are getting laid off. Welfare is our future.

Lucab
UES

The drop in the unemployment rate is not enough. We are still lagging in job creations compared to our 2007 years.

Amel

INSTEAD OF LOOKING AT BLOOMBERG SO CALL STATS LETS LOOK AT HOW MANY NEW YORKERS ARE LIVING ABOVE THE POVERTY LINE.

PEDRO
BRONX

The Republican claim that tax cuts for the rich create jobs is an outright lie. Yet this lie has been told so often that even democrats respond to it as if it were true. If tax cuts for the rich created jobs we would have negative unemployment right now.

John in Bayside.

John,

There are too many people like me who are now deemed overeducated (post-grad degrees) & overexperienced (20+ yrs) who are looking for a good job. The only people getting jobs are whippersnappers who can afford to take low-paying job because they have well-off parents that help pay their bills.

Peggy, Wash. Hts.

I find that the economy is doing just fine. And I believe the President is doing a great job given he is going up against a congress determined to have him fail. Similarly with Cuomo and the State Senate. At least that's my view as a person that would have benefited from All the Presidents initiatives in healthcare, but I find I am without healthcare now due to laws and bills passed through the Bush Presidency.

Conversely some of the Obama initiatives for small business from creating funding for such business has benefited me greatly I am now one of the many excited to launch my business thanks those efforts. And I am eager for some of the initiatives he was able to achieve regarding getting health insurance cross state, nationally etc. Those may be what helps me find healthcare. Two things I care much about.
Also new energy initiatives pushed by the President vs. the Republican ideal of more oil or Shellacking for Natural Gas holds for me great savings when I switch from Gas/Standard Electricity to Solar Energy. Note Solar energy being more affordable and available due to the Presidents push for new energy initiatives.

We should also note as we shift to these new forms of energy or businesses we can expect a slump as people have to be retrained for the new industries i.e. Green Jobs or New Media jobs. The music/entertainment/marketing industry is a great example. I know as sales slumped ( I have worked in Marketing for the last 14 years about.) the types of jobs changed, i.e. Graphics houses that printed Posters flyers merchandise replaced by emerging dot.cos that provide that service.

Also Are you sure the Romney campaign or his Super Pac are not paying folks to flood you phone lines with negative outlooks to push your viewers from a vote for the Obama campaign? Just asking. Thanks John.

Tesfa

Hi John,

Twenty-five years ago, I quit smoking, opened up an IRA, and deposited all the money I would’ve spent on cigarettes into it. Today, I am very comfortably retired thanks to all the cigarette money I saved. Every month when I go to a Broadway play, it’s a full house; every time I eat out, I have to wait to get a seat; the movie theaters are packed; everyone I see in the street has an expensive iPhone stuck in their ear; little kids are walking around with iPhones and iPads; even with the high price of gas, traffic jams are bigger than ever; and anyone who can afford $12 a pack for cigarettes has to be a millionaire, so where’s the recession??? Any tourist coming here would think we’re all millionaires.

Regards,
Walter,
New Dorp

Sure there are more jobs, the caveat is that all the good manufacturing / union jobs are gone and have been replaced by low paying jobs in hotel work and retail. $10 an hour doesn't cut it in NYC.

Pat from Astoria