ECON March’s jobs report is the labor market’s worst showing in over a year

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://fortune.com/2015/04/03/march-jobs-growth-disappoints/

March’s jobs report is the labor market’s worst showing in over a year

by John Kell @johnnerkell
April 3, 2015, 8:57 AM EDT

Gain of 126,000 jobs was the weakest job growth since December 2013.

U.S. employers added far fewer jobs in March than economists had anticipated, the worst showing for the labor market in more than a year and ending a year-long streak of monthly job additions above 200,000.

The Labor Department published March’s employment figures Friday morning, with the report showing U.S. employers added just 126,000 jobs in March. That missed Wall Street’s expectations by 121,000 new jobs and was the weakest job growth since December 2013. Ahead of the report, observers had warned that job growth looked poised to take a step back in March, hurt by weak oil prices and the surging value of the dollar. The Labor Department reported weakness for jobs that supported oil and gas extraction, as well as a slowdown in job gains from the food services industry.

Here are the highlights from this morning’s report.

What you need to know: March was the 54th straight month of employment gains in the U.S., but the job growth failed to exceed 200,000 after a 12-month streak of gains above that threshold.

Hourly wages rose by just 7 cents to $24.86 and over the year, average hourly earnings grew by 2.1%. The wage gains in early 2015 have fallen short of the 3% annual wage growth that was seen prior to 2007.

The labor market has added jobs steadily as the nation’s economy has rebounded and grown in the years following the global financial crisis. Job growth has spread across many pockets of the economy, though wages haven’t improved much and the long-term unemployed have missed out on the jobs rebound. Meanwhile, weak oil prices have led to some notable layoffs in the energy sector. Of the 140,214 job cuts announced in the first quarter of 2015, 34% of them were attributed to falling oil prices, according to outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

The big numbers: The U.S. labor market added 126,000 jobs in March, falling short of economists’ estimates of 247,000 jobs, according to a Bloomberg survey. The nation’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.5% in March, matching analysts’ estimates.

Job gains for February were downwardly revised. The figure dropped to 264,000 from 295,000 jobs. The number of long-term unemployed was little changed at 2.6 million.

What you may have missed: The job market has been stung by weakness in the mining sector. That industry has shed 30,000 jobs so far in 2015, after adding 41,000 jobs for all of 2014. The employment declines in the first quarter of this year, as well as the gains reported last year, were generally tied to jobs that supported oil and gas extraction. Observers have warned the falling price of oil would take a significant toll on industries such as oil field services, energy providers and related manufacturers this year.

Among other sectors, job growth in retail matched the 12-month average gain, while the health care sector, food service industry, and professional and business service providers all added jobs last month. Notably, the food services industry added just 9,000 jobs in March, after posting an increase of 66,000 in February. The job growth for that sector in March badly lagged the average monthly gain for 2014, which was at about 33,000 per month.

 

[tanstaafl]

All is well! All is well! Nothing to see here, keep moving ...

I could take the shrinking toilet paper, the smaller bars of soap, the shrinking cereal boxes, and the others, but now the bastards have come for my Diet Pepsi! Apparently Pepsi has reduced their standard 24 fl oz bottles to 16.9 fl oz bottles. WinCo here is now carrying the new smaller bottles at the same price of the previously carried 24 fl oz bottles. I'm curious to know if the new smaller bottles is a nationwide thing or are they just picking on us?

But repeat after me: There is no inflation! I know it's so because the government tells me so!

 

[Slatewiper]

Too bad the stock markets are closed today. I'd be willing to bet it would be a nightmare if they were.

 

[Flippper]

You still drink US manufactured diet pop? EEEK! Get thyself a SodaStream and make your own. The syrups are made in Israel where they are not stupid enough to put poison in their food.

The Land of Plenty is under radical communist-muslim control, if you want to see their endgame, go look at Gaza or any other muzzie held territory to see how they live. We still have it pretty good. For now. The nations of the world are scraping the US dollar off their shoes in an attempt to avoid going down with our ship when our dollar crashes, I'm not sure they will be quick enough as I fully expect it to happen in mid-September.

P.S. If you think I refer to only the WH, think again, they couldn't do this without the complete consent of congress and SCOTUS, as well as state governors, county commissioners and city governments. Scumbags in these offices are hogtying the citizens with over taxation and regulations, effectively strangling old businesses and new business startups with red tape and obolacare.

 

[Sleeping Cobra]

Not Looking Good:

http://dailyjobcuts.com/

 

[Dennis Olson]

U.S. employers added far fewer jobs in March than economists had anticipated...


How "unexpected"....

 

[Housecarl]

U.S. employers added far fewer jobs in March than economists had anticipated...


How "unexpected"....

Big point here is that this number is the "first one", not the corrected one that's usually lower.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali...-exceed-93-million-first-time-627-labor-force

Americans Not in Labor Force Exceed 93 Million for First Time; 62.7% Labor Force Participation Matches 37-Year Low

April 3, 2015 - 8:58 AM
By Ali Meyer

(CNSNews.com) - The number of Americans 16 years and older who did not participate in the labor force--meaning they neither had a job nor actively sought one in the last four weeks--rose from 92,898,000 in February to 93,175,000 in March, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That is the first time the number of Americans out of the labor force has exceeded 93 million.

Also from February to March, the labor force participation rate dropped from 62.8 percent to 62.7 percent, matching a 37-year low.

Five times in the last twelve months, the participation rate has been as low as 62.8 percent; but March’s 62.7 percent, which matches the participation rate seen in September and December of 2014, is the lowest since February of 1978.

BLS employment statistics are based on the civilian noninstitutional population, which consists of all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution such as a prison, mental hospital or nursing home.

In March, the civilian noninstitutional population was 250,080,000 according to BLS. Of that 250,080,000, 156,906,000 -- or 62.7 percent -- participated in the labor force, meaning they either had or job or had actively sought one in the last four weeks.

Of the 156,906,000 who did participate in the labor force, 148,331,000 had a job and 8,575,000 did not have a job but actively sought one. The 8,575,000 are the unemployed. They equaled 5.5 percent of the labor force—or the unemployment rate of 5.5 percent (which matched the unemployment rate seen in February 2015).

According to the BLS, the aging of the baby boom generation is a key factor affecting the labor force participation rate:

“The baby boomers’ exit from the prime-aged workforce and their movement into older age groups will lower the overall labor force participation rate, leading to a slowdown in the growth of the labor force,” explains the BLS.

"In 2000, baby boomers were aged 36 to 54 years and were in the group with the highest participation rates: the prime-aged group 25 to 54 years old. The participation rate for women in this group was 76.7 percent and for men was 91.6 percent, so that the overall participation rate of the group was 84.0 percent. The participation rate of the next-older age group, that 55 years and older, was 32.4 percent, so the difference between the two age groups was 52 percentage points. With the passage of every year after 2000, a segment of the baby-boomer population passes into the 55-years-and-older age group and thus moves from a group with a high participation rate in the labor force to an age category with a much lower particiption rate, causing the overall participation rate to decrease,” states BLS.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102559510

US added 126K jobs in March, vs 245K expected; jobless rate stays at 5.5%

Jeff Cox | @JeffCoxCNBCcom
9 Hours Ago

<p>Belski: Not surprised by jobs, Fed still raises later 2015</p> <p>The U.S. added 126,000 jobs in March. Brian Belski, BMO Capital Markets, doesn't think the bad jobs number will affect the Federal Reserve raising rates later this year.</p>

The sputtering U.S. economy created just 126,000 jobs in March as bad weather, weak consumer spending and flailing corporate profits resulted in the worst report since December 2013.

Economists expected nonfarm payrolls to rise 245,000 in March, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 5.5 percent, according to Reuters. February's numbers were revised lower to 264,000 from the initially reported 295,000, while January's number fell from 239,000 to 201,000.

The total fell well short of the 269,000 average over the past year and was the first time in 14 months that the number dropped below 200,000.

However, the overall unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent, as a generational low in labor force participation helps keep the figure low. A separate gauge that includes those who have stopped looking for work as well those employed part-time for economic reasons—the underemployed—edged lower from 11 percent to 10.9 percent.

The jobs numbers come as both the economy and corporate profits have been weakening substantially.

A New York Labor Department office is viewed in Manhattan in New York City.
Getty Images

A New York Labor Department office is viewed in Manhattan in New York City.

In its most recently estimate, the Federal Reserve's Atlanta branch is projecting the U.S. economy to show just a 0.1 percent growth rate in the first quarter. At the same time, corporate profits are expected to drop about 3 percent for the period and another 2 percent or so in the second quarter, according to S&P Capital IQ.

"We were due a clunker," said John Canally, chief economic strategist at LPL Financial. "It's probably the same things that are going to be impacting the earnings season in a couple weeks. It's the strong dollar hitting manufacturing, the port strike hitting manufacturing, it's the really awful weather...But across all sectors, it was just pretty soft."

Markets reacted negatively to the report, sending stock market futures lower and government bond yields and the U.S. dollar tumbling. Stock and bond markets are closed in the U.S. to mark Good Friday.

For market reaction, go here.

The conflicting economimc signals have put the Fed in a quandary: Central bank officials have been indicating a desire to raise short-term interest rates this year as the jobs market improves, but must contend with other parts of the economy that aren't as strong.

Talk on Wall Street quickly shifted from expectations for a rate hike in June to later in the year.

"Pretty much across the board a soft report," said Kathy Jones, fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab. "It has clearly pushed back expectations from a June rate hike on the part of the Fed. Now we're probably looking at a higher likelihood in September, if then, and a flatter yield curve."

Despite the weak headline numbers, there were some signs of wage pressures. Average hourly earnings rose 7 cents an hour to $24.86, representing a 2.1 percent gain that gets closer to the Fed's target. The average work week, though, declined one-tenth to 34.5 hours.

Full-time positions rose 190,000, while those working part-time declined 170,000. The total employment level increased just 34,000. The average duration of unemployment declined to its lowest level since February 2010 at 30.7 weeks.

The service sector, as has been typical during the jobs recovery, led the way with 40,000 new positions. Retail added 26,000 and health care grew by 22,000.

Weaknesses came in mining, which lost 11,000 jobs, and nursing care, which shed 6,000 positions. The normally reliable bar and restaurant industry, which added 66,000 in February and had been averaging 33,000 a month, contributed just 9,000 in March. Manufacturing lost 1,000 jobs.

Jeff Cox
Finance Editor

 

[Sleeping Cobra]

Notice the Main Stream Media calls it "The Great Recession" and not "The Great Depression 2".

 

[Dennis Olson]

According to shadow stats.com, the actual unemployment rate is well over 20%. At the worst part of the Great Depression, it was 24%...

 

[Housecarl]

According to shadow stats.com, the actual unemployment rate is well over 20%. At the worst part of the Great Depression, it was 24%...

Two things to consider with that statistic, first the number of women in the labor force now compared to then and the second is the differences in productivity between then and now with automation and other advances.

If those are factored in, I think corrected unemployment rate and economic impact is probably bigger than 24%.

 

[Hacker]

According to shadow stats.com, the actual unemployment rate is well over 20%. At the worst part of the Great Depression, it was 24%...

Here's the ShadowStats.com chart:

It looks to be about 23%. I believe it will soon be heading higher.