The BLS employment report shows the official unemployment rate ticked down 0.1 percentage point to 7.6%, but not because people gained employment. Instead the unemployment rate dropped due to less people participating in the labor market. The labor participation rate just hit a record low, not seen since May 1979 when many segments of the population was still quite discriminated against in the workforce. One cannot just blame retiring baby boomers for low labor participation rates This article overviews and graphs the statistics from the Current Population Survey of the employment report.
ADP's proprietary private payrolls jobs report shows a gained of 158,000 private sector jobs for March 2013. ADP revised February's job figures up by 39,000 to 237 thousand, yet January's tally was revised down by 38,000 to a total of 177 thousand private sector jobs gained for the month. This report does not include government, or public jobs.
The March 2013 ISM Manufacturing Survey shows PMI decreased by -2.9 percentage points to 51.3% and is in expansion for the 4th month in a row. New orders as well as production declined significantly from last month and show a slower growth manufacturing sector. March's Manufacturing survey shows inventories contracted as well.
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