employment

Unemployment Rate Drops Dramatically to 7.0%

Welcome to the wild weird current population survey unemployment report where dramatic monthly swings cause paranoia and doubt.  We shed light on these woolly figures and this month there is much to flash that light on.  First, the unemployment rate dropped 0.3 percentage points to 7.0%.  This is the lowest unemployment rate since November 2008.

A Graphic Look at Payrolls from the September Employment Report

The BLS unemployment report shows total nonfarm payroll jobs gained were 148,000 for September 2013, with private payrolls adding 126,000 jobs.  Government jobs increased by 22,000.  Additionally 20,000 of September's jobs were temporary ones.   Overall job growth was barely enough to keep up with the growing population.

 

What's Going On With Initial Unemployment Claims?

The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on October 12th, 2013 was 358,000, a 15,000 decrease from the previous week of 373,000.  The problem is these figures are really out of whack and we have one state to blame, California. We've seen strange soarings in initial claims before yet this was unexpected to occur again.

Initial Unemployment Claims Imply Payroll Growth for Septmber 2013

The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on September 28th, 2013 was 308,000, a 1,000 increase from the previous week of 307,000.  Since the monthly unemployment report will not be released due to the shutdown, we show below the correlation of initial unemployment claims to payroll growth.

JOLTS Shows Jobs Static Again - 3.1 Unemployed Per Opening in July 2013

The BLS July JOLTS report, or Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows there are 3.1 official unemployed per job opening and this has been the same story for the last six months.  Job openings declined by -4.7% from the previous month to a total of 3,689,000.  Hirings increased 2.3% to 4.419 million.  Real hiring has only increased 22% from June 2009.

Charts from BLS Employment Report Show Bad Jobs Continue to Rule in 2013

The BLS unemployment report shows total nonfarm payroll jobs gained were 169,000 for August 2013, with private payrolls adding 152,000 jobs.  Government jobs increased by 17,000.  Probably the worse news of this report is July was revised down by 58,000 jobs to show only a 104,000 payroll gain and June was also revised down by 16,000 to 172,000 jobs added for that month.

U.S. Multinationals Were Hiring Like Mad in 2011...Abroad

U.S. multinational corporations were actually hiring in 2011 as they were in 2010.  Unfortunately as in 2010, they are hiring abroad.  In an updated BEA summary on sales, investment and employment by Multinational Corporations for 2011, we have a 0.1% increase in hiring for jobs in the United States while MNCs increased their hiring abroad by 4.4%.

JOLTS Report Shows Job Openings Static Again for May 2013

The BLS May JOLTS report, or Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows there are 3.1 official unemployed per job opening, the same as the last three months.  Every month it is the same story, a static dead pool job market with employers clearly not hiring and this is in spite of the revisions to jobs gained.  Job openings didn't change, a measily 0.7% increase from last month to a total of 3,828,000.  Hirings didn't change much either, a 1.0% change to 4.441 million.  Real hiring has only increased 22% from June 2009.  Job openings are still below pre-recession levels of 4.7 million.  Job openings have increased 76% from July 2009.  Every month JOLTS reports the same bleak labor market conditions.

A Detailed Look at the BLS Payrolls Employment Report for June 2013

The BLS unemployment report shows total nonfarm payroll jobs gained were 195,000 for June 2013, with private payrolls adding 202,000 jobs.  Government jobs declined by 7,000.  May was revised up by 20,000 to show a 195,000 payroll gain and April was also revised up by 50,000 to 199,000 jobs added for that month.   While this is great news, unfortunately the types of jobs gained are mostly low paying ones.

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