Job report in perspective and why it is important to not react to one month numbers
By now, we should be used to job reports numbers that are contradictory. This month is not different as other have already posted: lousy job numbers, better unemployment numbers.
As a principle, given that unemployment ignores people like me, who have been unemployed for a long time and do not believe they will find a job and try to find different sources of income (all legal), or even people who are very much underemployed, I find the job numbers more important (even if they are not perfect either, not giving information about what type of jobs were created). This said, this month number should not be given too much importance as an individual number. Let's all take a deep breath and wait to see what January and February give.
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/01/10/live-from-new-york-its-jobs-friday-8/
January 148,000
February 332,000
March 142,000
April 199,000
May 176,000
June 172,000
July 89,000
August 238,000
September 175,000
October 200,000
November 241,000
December 74,000
But it is also clear this month's numbers are not great.
= new reply since forum marked as read
By Steve Benen
When it comes to U.S. job creation, the latter half of 2013 looked quite good, and there was ample reason to believe the year would end on a high note, giving the economy some momentum going into the new year.
That didn’t happen, at least according to initial estimates. The new report from Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the U.S. economy added only 74,000 jobs in December, far below economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate dropped to 6.7% – its lowest point since October 2008 – but that appears largely to be the result of people dropping out of the workforce.
Indeed, though the drop in the jobless rate may appear encouraging, this is a pretty dreadful jobs report – 74,000 jobs for December is the lowest monthly total in two and a half years...Indeed, the revisions from October and November showed an additional 38,000 U.S. jobs that had been previously unreported.
That said, December’s awful numbers are a reminder – to policy makers, to the Fed, to the public – that a robust economic recovery has still not arrived. For congressional Republicans to undermine the economy on purpose by cutting off extended unemployment benefits makes it that much more difficult for the job market to return to where it needs to be.
All told, so far in calendar year 2013, the economy added 2.18 million jobs, while the private sector alone created 2.21 million jobs.
- more -
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/december-job-totals-disappoint
