‘Jobs’ – the report for April – No smiles again

Editor’s Note – The unemployment rate fell 0.1% to 8.1%, but that was because even more people fell off the employment rolls, they stepped out of the job market. At some point, the manner in which the employment picture is portrayed needs to change to one that reflects reality. Just because we have always done it this way does not mean it should continue.

Times have changed, our economic dynamics are much different than even ten years ago; the paradigms are no longer the same, yet the government keeps on analyzing the numbers in an archaic and fictitious fashion. The current economy across the globe cannot continue on this path. Reality is the only way to move ‘forward’. To do anything else is to bury one’s head in the sand, and the White House needs to lead that charge, but we of course do not hold out any hope that this will happen anytime soon.

At some point in the near future, the economy will hit a cliff because so many people are out of work, under employed, under paid, and we cannot keep hemorrhaging net worth and expect any kind of robust recovery. We need stability, yet all we get is rhetoric.

April’s Jobs Report and the Youth Problem

U.S. employers added 115,000 jobs in April, fewer than economists expected, and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 8.1 percent as more people exited the workforce, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Economists had expected about 165,000 jobs to be added, according to a consensus figure from Bloomberg. April’s jobs gain was the smallest in six momths.

“The unemployment rate is not materially changing, which is disappointing since privately held companies have continued to grow their sales and are generally the engine of job growth,” said Brian Hamilton, CEO of Sageworks and a leading expert on privately held companies. “This probably reflects continued anxiety about the economy and where it will be 12 months from now. We are 34 months into an expansion and an 8.1 percent unemployment rate is too high at this point.”

Employers added 120,000 jobs in March in that month’s disappointing jobs report, which showed the jobless rate at 8.2 percent. But the Labor Department revised the March figure upward today to 155,000.

Employment increased in professional and business services, retail trade, and health care, but declined in transportation and warehousing, the government said.

“Looking through the revisions and weather effects, this report indicates a labor market that continues to show a modest pace of improvement, about in line with expectations and an economy that is making some headway in recovery,” said Peter Hooper, a Deutsche Bank economist.

On Thursday, the Labor Department reported people filing for unemployment benefits fell last week. After inching higher during the last few weeks, the jobless claims fell to 365,000 for the week ending April 28, down from 392,000 in the prior week.

Hiring among U.S. private employers dropped in April to the lowest level in seven months, payroll company ADP reported on Wednesday. (Read the rest here – ABC News.)

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