From TheUpshot, NYTimes
The Jobs Report Isn’t as Good as It Looks
MAY 2, 2014
Rarely does a monthly report on the United States job market look so terrific on the surface while being so disappointing underneath.
At first glance, the new reading on the nation’s employment situation is shout-from-the-roof-tops, pop-the-Champagne fantastic. The unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent, and employers added a whopping 288,000 jobs, the most in two years. Those types of numbers, if sustained, would signal something better than just the humdrum, sluggish recovery of the last few years, and something far more robust.
But where the last couple of months have had disappointing top-line numbers with some excellent trends bubbling beneath the surface, this one pairs the excellent surface news with a soft underbelly.
The most promising trend in the labor market in the first three months of 2014 had been workers returning to the job market. Some 1.3 million more Americans counted themselves as either having a job or looking for one in March than in December. That represented the strongest three-month gain in the size of the labor force since the boom times of early 2000.
A dynamic that seemed — maybe, possibly — to be taking shape for 2014 was that of some of the millions of people who had given up on even looking for a job during the recession and the slow recovery were finally returning. That trend might have acted as a floor underneath the overall unemployment rate. People returning to the work force might not find a job immediately, joining the rolls of the unemployed, but it would be good news for the long-term prosperity of the American economy.
Read more from TheUpshot, NYTimes >>
The Jobs Report Isn’t as Good as It Looks
MAY 2, 2014
Rarely does a monthly report on the United States job market look so terrific on the surface while being so disappointing underneath.
At first glance, the new reading on the nation’s employment situation is shout-from-the-roof-tops, pop-the-Champagne fantastic. The unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent, and employers added a whopping 288,000 jobs, the most in two years. Those types of numbers, if sustained, would signal something better than just the humdrum, sluggish recovery of the last few years, and something far more robust.
But where the last couple of months have had disappointing top-line numbers with some excellent trends bubbling beneath the surface, this one pairs the excellent surface news with a soft underbelly.
The most promising trend in the labor market in the first three months of 2014 had been workers returning to the job market. Some 1.3 million more Americans counted themselves as either having a job or looking for one in March than in December. That represented the strongest three-month gain in the size of the labor force since the boom times of early 2000.
A dynamic that seemed — maybe, possibly — to be taking shape for 2014 was that of some of the millions of people who had given up on even looking for a job during the recession and the slow recovery were finally returning. That trend might have acted as a floor underneath the overall unemployment rate. People returning to the work force might not find a job immediately, joining the rolls of the unemployed, but it would be good news for the long-term prosperity of the American economy.
Read more from TheUpshot, NYTimes >>
No comments:
Post a Comment