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Report: Chicago Teachers Strike May Impact Monthly Jobs Report

Sep. 17, 2012 6:29pm Becket Adams

Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago teachers union, departs a news conference after her meeting with the union's House of Delegates Friday, Sept. 14, 2012, in Chicago. Lewis told the delegates that a "framework" was in place to end the teachers strike. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Pundits on both the left and right side of the political spectrum have noted the White House’s almost deafening silence on the Chicago teachers strike.

Indeed, given the president’s tendency to inject himself into pop/current affairs (see Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., Trayvon Martin, and Sandra Fluke), his non-opinion on the Chicago strike is really quite odd.

You’d think a guy who once served in the Illinois state Senate and spent a good deal of time living in Chicago would at least have an opinion on the matter. But no, the president has been eerily silent.

Well, that may soon change: “the Chicago teachers strike is so large it could distort national economic statistics, including the Labor Department’s key monthly jobs report,” CNN Money reports.

Considering the current state of the economy and the role it has played in the presidential election, the damage the strike could cause to September’s jobs report may actually force President Barack Obama to take a position on Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s massive union headache.

The strike, which consists of about 26,000 teachers and staff, has entered its second week.

“The strike’s timing is key, in that it coincides with the period in which the government collects data for the national jobs report,” CNN Money notes. “Last month, that report showed the economy added only 96,000 jobs. The number was seen as weak, posing a challenge for President Obama as he faces re-election.”

Keep in mind, 9,000 of those 96K were utilities workers returning to work after resolving their strike. Also, it’s important to note that when the Labor Department does its monthly survey of employers, the Chicago Public Schools system is included in its sampling.

“In the case of Chicago Public Schools, teachers are paid on a biweekly schedule. The current pay period started September 9 and runs through this Saturday, September 22. The teachers that are striking are not receiving any pay from the school district during that time, unless they report back to work,” CNN Money notes.

This means that unless the strike is resolved soon, Chicago Public Schools will have 26,000 fewer things to report when the Labor Department asks “how many employees do you currently have on your payroll?”

“Only [Chicago Teachers Union] members who we can confirm reported to work during the strike will be paid by CPS during that time frame,” Marielle Sainvilus, a spokeswoman for the school district, told CNN.

If the strike isn’t sorted out by the end of this week, the striking teachers and staff will be counted as “out of work” (but not “unemployed”).

Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union addresses the crowd during a rally Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012, in Chicago. Lewis reminded that although there is a "framework" for an end to their strike, they are still on strike. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

“The effect it has on the national number has yet to be seen, but the strike is big enough to swing things,” Labor Department Economist John Coughlan said in the same report.

However, it should be pointed out that the strike probably won’t affect the unemployment rate.

“[T]he strike is unlikely to have any effect on the unemployment rate. That number is calculated from a separate survey of households and only includes people who lost a job through no fault of their own,” CNN Money notes.

Still, although it doesn’t seem likely a continuation of the strike will drive up September’s official unemployment rate, 26,000 people removed from the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report won’t be a good optic for Team Obama.

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

All photos courtesy the AP.

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Comments (57)

thelionsroar
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 9:31pm
His unemployment numbers are falsified and still come out messed up.It doesn’t make a differance we all know he screwed up.I think he’s finally being smart and letting local goverment handle it,even though that’s not his reason for staying quiet.His union lackeys screwed him with this strike so he’s not helping them but he still doesn’t want to lose thier votes by speaking against them which he would never do anyways.

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- Deb C
  Posted on September 18, 2012 at 10:21am
  Is this why Rahm went back to Chicago ?
  
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eramthgin
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:43pm
Not that i wouldn’t like to see the real unemployment numbers listed which is about 14% but how do people that walked off their jobs ever get unemployement or be counted in the numbers.

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- Leadthemtothelight
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 9:04pm
  Fire them all. Problem solved. Start over with teachers who wanna teach not collect exorbitant salaries and benefits.
  
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- Deb C
  Posted on September 18, 2012 at 10:25am
  Guess Chicago teachers are the only ones unhappy with their pay structure ?
  
  Report this comment
thegreatcarnac
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:21pm
Chicago teachers look to be as crooked as everything else is in that pitiful city. Any city that elects Rham Emmanuel as mayor should turn into Detroit……and it will.

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MODEL82A1
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:11pm
The American Fight is the Makers V. the Takers. Sadly, the NEA has made public school teachers “Takers”. It ain’t looking good for the Republic. And NO new President can fix that. (Especially the idiot Paul/Johnson contingent)

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watersRpeople
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:00pm
How does their strike affect job numbers when they are union and still employed but striking? Technically all the school staff is still employed also.

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- Zipit
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 9:38pm
  Your just plain stupid Waters!
  
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- The Giver
  Posted on September 18, 2012 at 5:00am
  They are “out of work” for payroll purposes but not unemployed if I understood the story. It’s confusing. In other words, they can (as we already know) spin these numbers any way they want.
  I do think that they are preparing to use this as an excuse for the bad numbers that are coming.
  
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Creativethinker
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:50pm
My question to The Blaze is: What impact will China buying oil from Russia in yuan have on our currency? Just put i in a search engine “China buying oil from Russia in yuan”

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Mapache
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:50pm
So the mSM already has their excuse for a bad jobs report. You have to hand it to them. They are committed and think ahead. Alas, you can’t fix stupid. The MSM can spin all they want but the reality that is obvious to all who care to look is Obama is ripping our country apart and taking care of his friends in the process.

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- watersRpeople
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:05pm
  Funny how people are preoccupied about jobs when the economy, currency and cause to go on working is getting debased anyways.
  
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olddog
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:48pm
Post Not about Teachers but Gov. disability.
I have been disabled for 7 years and have filed 4 times to try and get disability but was always turned down. When I got to retirement age I filed for my retirement with S.S. and was told I should file for disability because I was eligile for it. I’d already filed 4 times but now S.S. wants to give it to me.
Now you know why so many peop[le on disability…We’d be bettwer off under Russian Rule than obama and friends..

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ColoradoMaverick
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:45pm
Karen Lewis has fat rolls on the back of her neck. I think she swallowed a turkey

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- MrButcher
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:47pm
  …or a young child.
  
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- Zipit
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 9:53pm
  Or two students that showed up this morning for taxpayer funded free breakfast!
  
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oicu814me2
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:42pm
fire’em all. you could take the smartest kid in the class and have that kid teach the rest of the class and have better results. these teachers have some of the lowest scores in the nation.

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- Spyderco
  Posted on September 18, 2012 at 1:25pm
  You don’t have to fire them. They have not gone to work for over a week. They quit.
  
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beekeeper
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:40pm
You forgot to mention all of Obama’s accomplishments in the realm of educaton – remember, it was on an education reform board that he worked with his neighbor (“a guy in the neighborhood”) – the Annenberg Foundation I think it was…

He has a deep connection to Chicago Education reform, but he abandonded that once it was no longer “politically useful”.

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The-Monk
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:38pm
I wonder if all these fat overweight teachers would benefit from Bloomberg’s soda bans?

Hey Rohm, go talk with Bloomberg…. You just might have a few more bargaining chips.

Back to work or “No Sugar For You”!!!! (Soup Nazi style) LOL

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:08pm
  LOL, After the first season I really never watched Seinfeld much. But, I did see that episode.
  
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- Zipit
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 9:51pm
  Looks to me like their leader, Karen Lewis,actually ate a couple of students before her appearance on camera today!
  
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barber2
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:32pm
Just more of the ” Obama Effect : “…. strikes..OWS… Wisconsin…media parroted propaganda…

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U.N.hater
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:27pm
This is all staged to make it look like the union aint in obamas pocket. Man they think we our that dumb..

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- barber2
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:33pm
  Like the video farce,,
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:10pm
  BARBER2, Yeah, and Susan Rice is doubling down on that story daily. Now, they have video of that evening in the compound, and no demonstration.
  
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turkey13
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:25pm
These union overpaid idiots didn’t learn from the UAW. Most of the cars are made in Canada, Mexico and the Southern US. The UAW thought they had the world by it’s testicals.

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MiCurmudgeon
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:22pm
Fire ‘em !!!!!!!!! You could do a better job of educating with 25000 random picked people as teachers.
They have 3 out of 4 eighth graders who can’t pass a reading test.

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- CatB
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:30pm
  I agree … they should all be fired .. and the parents should be given VOUCHERS!
  
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RJJinGadsden
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:14pm
Children held hostage at the extra expense to the parents. So, you sorry union jackasses couldn’t have done this during a summer off?

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- The-Monk
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:23pm
  Hi RJJ,
  
  Left some replies for you at your last few posts. : )
  
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- The-Monk
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:28pm
  Hi RJJ,
  “So, you sorry union jackasses couldn’t have done this during a summer off?”
  
  Oh no…. never ask a union teacher to do anything during “summer break”. Besides, the Children can’t be held hostage during the “much coveted 3 month summer break”.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:11pm
  Oh yeah, MONK. That is the obvious answer. I’ve seen video on the news of some distressed parents who have been paying a fortune for day care so they could go to work.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:14pm
  Hi MONK, caught one of them and responded. Will look some more now.
  
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Eric_The_Red_State
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:12pm
Hey – Check this out —

An investigation by the Government Accountability Institute found that more than half of the most politically active 50 campaign bundlers for President Obama were either appointed to a presidential council, committee, board, or other White House post. Many bundlers’ businesses or relative’s businesses also received millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded federal contracts, grants, loans or other crony perks.

http://www.breitbart.com/

If the BLAZE won’t post real news then somebody should……

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KingDork
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:09pm
I always picture pro union people being fat bloated parasites upon society but they are taking it quite literally…

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- progressiveslayer
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:14pm
  Yeah that thing in a moo moo is pretty bad,I guess a pig can walk on two huge legs.
  
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RED-DAWN
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:06pm
You have to love it when they feed on their own!

Take a page from the book written by Ronald Reagan, FIRE THEM ALL!

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progressiveslayer
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:06pm
Come on Barry your union pig friends need help in fleecing the taxpayers of Chicago,why are you not helping the union pigs? They’re just greedy and want more money for inferior work.

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- U.N.hater
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:17pm
  They have to take atleast a week off strike’ing so they can claim a week’s worth of unemployment…
  
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wheeler44
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 6:59pm
The worst outcome will be when all these selfish people are sent back into the classrooms to continue giving students inadequate, sub-way-below-par, educations. Reagan and PATCO, that was the solution. Instead poor Chicago has to endure Rahm and his trying to keep his base happy. Pathetic.

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 7:23pm
  I agree, but PATCO did actually violate a federal law when they did go on strike. Now these local governments are literally bent over the knees of the unions.
  
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marine249
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 6:41pm
I know if I was a kid, I would not like
going back to school and have to
look at those fat and ugly people.

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Tri-ox
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 6:40pm
Uh oh – it looks like obama’s little strike plan might backfire.

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marine249
Posted on September 17, 2012 at 6:39pm
This week we don’t show them as a loss.
Next week we add them in as a gain.
{BHO will turn this into a win win.}

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