We will use headlines this morning to talk about your job situation. You can give your thoughts. We have three lines this morning. If you found a job, and you want to tell us about it call in guest guest 202 7480003 202 7488000 for democrats. [audio clip][audio clip] join the cspan conversation like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. 5. 6 was the previous number. It jumped up a bit. That is according to the New York Times this morning. Also, if you look at the various demographics and unemployment it goes up to 4. 9 for whites. 10. 3 for blacks. 6. 7 for hispanics. 4. 1 percent for asians. Also, a number that gets talked about a lot is Labor Participation rate. In january, those employed were 59. 3 . The labor force was 62. 9 . To help us give context is mr. Reddy. Could you tell us first and foremost why we have seen so a jobs added last month but the Unemployment Rate went up. Guest the unemployment going up while youre adding jobs can actually be seen as a good thing, and a good sign for the overall economy. One of the forces that we have seen over the last five and a half years of economic recovery is that a lot of people have moved out of the labor force and have not come back in. A lot of them were just on the sidelines, they dropped out, they decided without worries looking for a job. There were not enough opportunities. In order to be unemployed, you have to not have a job and also not be looking for work. Now, we at least see people come back into the labor force which is a good thing. When you see people come back into the labor force because employees are hiring, the Unemployment Rate can go up temporarily. Host one of the things against brought up about these discussions is Labor Participation and the rate. This rate, if im reading it correctly, 62. 9 , why does this matter . Guest this is one of the most important gauges of the labor market. It can drive longterm growth for the economy, for the labor market it is an important sign of living standards. Labor force participation has been coming down in recent years. There are a couple of reasons. Some of it is cyclical due to weak recovery. Due to people not staying in the labor force, looking for work. Some of it is due to demographics. That is part of the puzzle. Americans getting older, with the baby boom, people retiring. You will not expect them to stay in the labor force. We have seen the labor force come down. It has come to aid two or three decade low. It popped up just a bit in the latest report. The fact that it popped up means that people are coming back and getting more confidence in the labor market. A needs to come up a lot more for us to see some meaningful fines that will reverse this trend. Host this is sudeep reddy. The Federal Reserve also been mentioned in the pages of the paper this morning. What did they say as far as future Interest Rates, and hows that a stomach nursing in the unemployment picture . Guest the fed is trying to make a difficult decision this year. They kept the shortterm Interest Rate near zero cents 2008. They have gone through several rounds of bond buying. They have gone through a whole lot of Additional Support for the economy. They finally got out of the bond buying program. Now they are facing a decision as to whether or not they raise the Interest Rate target. Before 2008, the way the fed was influencing the economy was it would raise its Interest Rate economy to slow down the economy update, deal with inflation, and it would lower the Interest Rate when the economy was weak and it needed to provide some port provide support. Now, since were getting closer to the longer run rate of unemployment, the natural rate of unemployment, the fed sees that from 5. 2 5. 8 . We are fairly close to that. When you get to the National Rate of unemployment, it is likely that you see such tightness in the labor market that not only do wages go up, but overall inflation goes up. That is one of the feds primary mandates, to control inflation and keep it at a reasonable territory. Of course, right now, inflation has been low for a number of factors. Including, cheap oil which is the press gasoline prices and help drivers across the country. We have not seen the sort of wage growth that everyone is looking for. The feds job is to get ahead of those trends. That is why it is watching tightness in the labor market so closely. Host did you get an Immediate Reaction from the said chair men jerry woman chairwoman . Guest we did not get an Immediate Reaction. Most analysts and fed officials seem to think that we are looking toward upgrading the a rating based around june. Midyear. The fed has tweaked its statement after the policy meeting. Right now, all of this language is geared towards a june meeting. And has to solidify that a little bit in its next meeting in march. It has said that it will remain patient on raising Interest Rates and it has signaled that it will not do it for at least a couple of meetings. To move out of that signal, it will have to change language in the next statement. That is why it will have to make some sort of decision ahead of that marched 1617 gathering. Host this is 30 ready joining us sudeep reddy joining us. Thank you so much. Now that we have talked about the background, we want to talk about your employment situation. The numbers arent there. 257,000 jobs added. If you found a job and wanted tell us about your experience, 2027488000. If you lost a job 2027488001. For everyone else, 2027458002. Jonathan weisman talking about the reaction over this, an upbeat jobs report. He also says there is reaction from congress on this. Speaker john boehner is quoted as saying that it is always good news that more americans are finding more work. We will read some tweets from members as they weighed in on yesterdays figures as well. Again, the lines are open. We will start with john in bel air, maryland. He says he has lost a job. John, tell us about your situation. Guest a i was doing truck driving. I got my cbl and was seven months over the road. Then the industry basically force me out. It is a slave driving industry where the billionaires and the government have form some sort of cobol. The overt turnover rate is 97 . Different laws say if i want to get a different job driving up truck, and i cannot get a local route, because the laws state that i need one year of experience. I have seven months. As a truck driver, after you do all the tests do the background checks, then you need one year of experience. The laws are different. The government and the billionaires has set it up so that the laws there are basically different types of chalking. You have Owner Operator to buy a truck. Then they go through brokers on the internet. Then you hall. Then, there are individual Truck Drivers who leaves from the company. They will lease a truck from the company, but then their work gets pieced out. They need someone to roll that truck. Five days, six days per week. They need to good halls to get money. Host with the seven months of experience that you have, do you qualify for unemployment . Guest know i cannot get unemployment. The politics and government is to dam big. Host tom from colorado. He says he has lost a job. Guest i lost a parttime consultant job that ive had for the last three years. From the state same company that early retired me seven months ago. Host tells a little bit about what you have been doing since then. Have you been actively seeking work . Guest caller i for own company as a consultant. I have been able to piece parttime consulting jobs together for the past several years. Host and you will still go down that route or will you turn to Something Else . Caller i will stay on that route. I will be 72. Host do you have others in your family . Caller my wife has a parttime job. She retires in june. Host randy is up next. Calling us from chicago heights, illinois. Caller i am a longterm unemployment people that got hit back into thousand 10. I worked 30 years for a company but they cannot hold on to me because of the economy. I lost it. I lost everything. I tried a couple of jobs you know, what happened is they only hired me for three months because im 62 now. I am in fairly good shape and i want to work. Host so, as far as the next few months or the next six months, what is your plan . Caller i am still looking for something parttime. No one is out there hiring people over 60 years old anymore. That is the problem. If they do hire you, they only hire you for six months because they do not want to put you on the insurance. They let you go after three months. Host from your perspective, how do you view these things that we talk about in washington unemployment numbers, jobs created, etc. Caller i do not believe any of that. There are 10 Million People still out of work with longterm unemployment. John boehner, they passed the senate to give some longterm unemployment some help, but he went to the house, and john boehner sat on it. Never put it out to vote to help the unemployed. Host the democratic wit w hip tweeting out yesterday. Also from the other side, from dan coats of indiana saying that longterm unemployment is still too high. Much like what you heard from our previous caller. Again, if you want to tell us about your job situation, if it has changed 3037488000. We move next antonio. Found a job. Caller i recently found a job. Its been like eight months now. It is a private online company. How they do things is they dont really have a structure on getting a raise. Im not really concerned about that. I was just released from prison for and a half years ago. They get paid to have convicted felons work for them. I do not see why they these employees out there, hire more convicted felons. Host how many jobs did you apply for before you found this one, given your background . Coloraller i had a job being a janitor. When they found out my background, it was like they did not want me. But then, i had an email saying i had a job. Its like im still trying to gain the upper business in society. How can i go and get these other opportunities like everybody else . I know i have a strike. Host heidi from florida. Founded job. Caller good morning. I retired as a dental hygienist for many years. We moved to florida, retired to florida. I found a job in hospitality at one of the theme parks here. That has been a wonderful opportunity. It is amazing, the number of retirees that are looking for some extra work, or just some way from keeping from getting bored, and going to hospitality. Especially at the theme parks here in florida. Host how many hours do you get . How many better what are your benefits . Caller i work parttime usually six hours per day. I have to be available at least three days per week, but they are great at scheduling. If you want to take some time off, they are very compatible that way. There are no actual benefits. I am over 70. I have my medicare and retirement. They do add to my social security, which i will take advantage of at some point. I thought i would try it for a year. I have been there over one year now. I just find it a very satisfying, great way to spend some time and stay in touch with younger people. I live in a 55 plus community. It is fun to get out and be with younger people both in the work capacity and in service. Making magic every day. Host that was heidi in florida. Tim is up next. Fairfax, virginia. Go ahead. Caller i would like to say that i can hardly believe the numbers. From the previous two months they have been adjusted to play over the one million mark for jobs created. You are talking about one third difference. That is the first time i have seen that sort of discrepancy in the last five years. Why . It sounds very political to me. Host fairfax, virginia, that was tim. The Daily Journal out of mississippi commenting on Alan Nunnelee passing on its front page. Also saying, after his death was announced, roger wicker of tupelo said, allen had a strong faith that guided his actions. He had a way of bringing people together on issues that affected our state and nation. Again, Alan Nunnelee passed away. The flag of the capital at half staff to recognize that. Back to our calls. Cheryl. Of los angeles, california. You said you found a job. Caller good morning. Happy new year is to you. I just wanted to call on the gentleman calling saying that seniors are hard to place. That is not true. Ive 67. I have a fulltime job. I lost a job and i have a job. A fulltime job with fulltime benefits. My girlfriend lost a job. She is 62. She has a fulltime job with fulltime benefits. And making a very handsome salary. Host what kind of work do you do . Caller i am in property management. Both of us are in property management. I have been doing that since 2006. I do not understand. I hear that over 60, no. I have a very lucrative job, excellent benefits, and a handsome salary. Host why do you think your situation is different from those who are older and say it is hard to find a job . Caller i dont know. My girlfriend, donna and i, both of us have a degree. Both have been in the workforce for years. Both are working, still working because we had to raise our grandchildren. After i receive this job, i turned down two jobs in the los angeles county. And with another property management. I do not know. It is amazing to me that people i hear this all the time, people over 62 are not being hired. I just had a call. I have not called since 2008. Host lets hear from jason in new york. Caller good morning. My situation is that i am employed at this moment. In the past three years, im currently on my seven contract. I work in the Semi Conductor industry where there are a lot of hiring going to hiring industries all over the world. From all over the United States. In new york, a lot of people are being hired. It is the type of industry where attract people worldwide and is very competitive. I am finding that the work that is available out there is mostly contracts for higher. A lot of them state that. Then, it turns out the contract, when the job is done, its like you are done. Then, no one wants to tell you when contracts finished. Then, youre hanging for one month or two while you are waiting to find new work. It becomes very difficult. You go back to those numbers about unemployment, and yeah, new jobs, you are creating jobs or seeing people unemployed. In my situation, you could count me as employed and one year to times, then unemployed twice. Then, you look back to the people who are longterm unemployed, and they cannot find work that goes back to the original pay. You have these agencies that are hiring there are taking big portions of your income. But, the companies are looking to place people, but not looking to give them full benefits, and so forth. I think it is very attractive to the companies to bring people in. It is not so attractive for the employees. Those who really need a job and keep looking for the full package. I dont know. When it comes to those numbers that you are talking about earlier. It is february, the season for my industries not seasonal, but for seasonal workers, you have all the people who just got laid off from the big flurry of black friday, Christmas Shopping holidays. Every year, you have this updown fluctuation that i do not think people look at. We have lost a lot of jobs, but we are gaining a lot of jobs this month, you are saying with a report. We just lost a bunch of parttime jobs. Now we are seeing may be a little bit of job growth on the other side. Host that was jason talking about his experience. If you want to talk about your experience, you are welcome. We have three different lines. You can tweet us as well. David ross tweeted in saying it seems like selfemployment is the most secure job, especially for us with seniority. Customers, seek us out. You can also post on our Facebook Page at www. Facebook. Com cspan. From the arizona republic, look at caleb mueller. The headline from in your time saying, isis the claim that she was killed in those attacks. It is not confirmed here in the u. S. Saying, she had always been identified as the loan american female hostage from the Islamic State. For nearly 17 months, while her fellow american captives were beheaded one after another in serial execution posted on youtube, caleb muellers name remained a closely guarded secret. On friday, the Islamic State confirmed her identity and said that she had been killed by fallen rubble. Later on it said that the use of her name for the first time through a spotlight on a hostage ordeal. Again, you can read more that in the New York Times. Oakland, california. This is as though. Saying that she found a job. Tell us about it. Caller im originally from belize city living in San Francisco, i worked as several things. As an american, you have to find all these jobs because of what is going on with the economy. I go back to school. Most americans get angry. They are jobs, beautiful jobs out there. I was working as a longshore woman. You have to open your eyes. Look for these jobs. There are jobs out there. Host how did you get into the longshoreman industry . Caller in San Francisco someone asked me how i got this job. Jobs are waiting for you. Right now the men do not want to work, you go in the office, and they will hire you. 25 per hour. When they were there was no work, you go to the ship club, the men would get angry. I got those wo jobs because i am a woman. The ship club, i went in there as a woman. When i would leave from there, i would be a seamstress. When i left from there, i would do another thing. Men did not like a. In the 70s, the longshoreman told me that they walked off the jobs for six months. Guess who got paid . I did. My daughter is working there as a supervisor now. From 14 years old, she is now 52 and still working there. Host out of all those jobs, which one is your favorite . Caller longshore woman and ship clerk, and seamstress, all of them. Ship clerk. They did not know host that was as though. Lets hear from mark in orlando, florida. Caller i am a democrat. Thank