By Dave Anderson:
An actual piece of very good news on the job front via the BLS:
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the
unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today. Job growth was widespread in the private
sector, with large employment gains in professional and business
services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing. Government
employment changed little over the month....
The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point in January to
8.3 percent; the rate has fallen by 0.8 point since August.
All backward looking data has also been revised upwards. 243,000 new jobs in a month is a pace that is sufficient to actually tighten up the labor market and thus improve wages/income.
LOL. Look a bit closer if you think this is "good news".
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zerohedge.com/news/record-12-million-people-fall-out-labor-force-one-month-labor-force-participation-rate-tumbles-
The labor force participation rate continues its death spiral.
Well, that rate of job creation would get us out of the hole in something like seven years. Better, certainly, and good news, but hardly a bell ringer.
ReplyDeleteI didn't follow OhNo's link, but is Zero Hedge really claiming 12 million dropped out of labor force? Please. It was 1.2 million, and that was affected by a 10-year adjustment having to do with the census.
The bad news is that participation in the labor force is not improving to any degree that matters, only 0.2% since the bottom of the current recession. The portion of the working age population that is employed is not improving, and it is that which we should be watching.
Remember, too, that the numbers are "household survey" and "birth-death model" government calculations, and are "seasonally adjusted" and manipulated. I did not trust the "models" and adjustments when Bush was in office, and I don't trust them now.
I am lecturer working in Greenwich university as years going on rate of the students in the universities is increasing. These many students probably getting job is good but when you are calculating with bureau of labor statistics it is too bad, why these students need a degree for a labor work. Any way we should be happy for decreasing the unemployment when compare to before years.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting such a great article