SandBoxBlogs: The Atlantic "Jobs Report Brings Bad News for Team Obama"

Catherine Hollander:
"The latest jobs report is bad news for the economy and for the Obama administration. April's disappointing payroll numbers confirm that the economy is slowing again on the heels of a winter in which the recovery appeared to be finally picking up steam.

If job growth continues at this rate, unemployment will remain at or above the politically-important 8 percent level before Election Day, according to Hamilton Place Strategies' Patrick Sims. Sims calculates that it will take monthly payroll growth of 176,000 to get below 8 percent by November -- unless more Americans drop out of the labor force, or stop looking for work. That's what caused the April headline unemployment rate to fall from 8.2 to 8.1 percent; labor force participation is now at its lowest point in 31 years. That's not the story an incumbent president wants to tell....."  (Read more? Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBoxBlogs: Denver Post/Breaking News "A modest economy seems to be keeping lid on hiring"

CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER and PAUL WISEMAN:
" Over time, strong economic growth is vital for strong job growth.

But early this year, hiring accelerated much faster than economic growth did. Job gains averaged a strong 229,000 in the first three months. But the economy grew at a sluggish annual rate of 2.2 percent.

Economists began to wonder: Would growth catch up with hiring? Or would hiring slow to match economic growth (as measured by gross domestic product, or GDP)?

Some economists say April's disappointing job growth suggests an answer, and it's not a cheerful one:

"It now appears that jobs have decelerated into line with GDP, rather than GDP accelerating to catch up with jobs," said Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight...." (Read more? Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBoxBlogs: Keith Hennessey "A good Jobs Day"

Keith Hennessey, March 9, 2012:
"The fewest numbers you need to know

This morning the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in February the U.S. economy created 227,000 net new jobs and the unemployment rate held steady at 8.3%.

We are still 5.3 million jobs shy of peak employment in December 2007 and 864,000 shy of January 2009 when President Obama took office.

Same data, different views
Different audiences look at employment data in different ways:

• People’s lives are most affected by the level of employment: how many people are working and what is the unemployment rate? At 8.3 percent this number is still bad.
• As both a policy and political matter, Washington, DC cares about the level, but even more about the direction and rate of change: are we adding or subtracting jobs, is unemployment rising or falling, are we “headed in the right direction?” From this view today’s report offers good news, at least on the jobs created front. I assume the Administration will cite 17 months of continuous job growth. Possibly more significant is that we have had four months of job growth > 150,000/month, which is roughly what you need to keep up with population growth.  The trend continues to be positive, although you should want even bigger numbers since the unemployment rate is still high.
• Markets and market commentators care even more about how the change compares with expectations before the data was released. Today’s numbers slightly exceeded expectations of about 200,000 net new jobs so the reaction from this perspective should also be positive...."

(Read more?  Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."