Unemployment Data: Healthcare, Government Prop Up a Gloomy Picture

If you think the recent jobs data looks bad now, wait until they do the revisions - the birth death model shows a net creation of almost a million jobs over the last year, many of which are not likely to persist when they begin looking at real data. As it is, year-over-year job growth is now plunging headlong into negative territory.
The Labor Department reported a decline of 84,000 for nonfarm payrolls in August including downward monthly revisions for June (from -51,000 to -100,000) and July (from -51,000 to -60,000).

Also making news was a five year high in the unemployment rate at 6.1 percent.

As usual, job creation in health care and government provided some support to the overall jobs picture with manufacturing and professional and business services leading the way down. Job growth for food services and drinking establishments, a stalwart in recent years, yielded on 2,300 new positions.
It appears that temporary help is being reduced at accelerated rates, employment services payrolls reduced by 54,000 jobs in August and temporary help (a subcategory of employment services) letting go a net 37,000 workers.

Fed funds futures now reportedly indicate a chance of a short-term interest rate cut sometime in in 2009.

Comments

[Depressedal...:]

The old saying goes..."If you think this is bad.... you haven't seen nothing yet, baby!" This is just the tip of the iceberg! I predict that by November, the unemployment will probably reach 9.5% or 10.0%! This recession (or JUST the beginning of another Great Depression!), is different than the recession of the 1970's which took about five years before our economy got back on its feet! Back in the 1970's we didn't have the depth/degree of greed/fraud in our banking/lending/mortga... industries! And our US Government has taken over Fannie Mae/Freedie Mac to stop our economy, and probably the world's economy from divebombing into a massive Great Depression, or so they say! The next scenario is WHAT other institution or institutions will our Government play the role of "the Great Rescuer?" Our government preaches, "Let the market forces carry on and work." But their hypocracy broadcasts another message and that is "rescue the mega-institutions, the mega-corporations ONLY," and let the market forces work for the middle-class and newly start-up businesses only! The continual action of our government to rescue those greedy institutions that are now going bankrupt will have a legacy of unbridled debt to the present and following generations to come! Stagflations? I doubt it! How about a continual slide of unemployment and a recession that mostly resembles the Great Depression! Have you noticed that the majority of the job losses are in those areas which previously were high-paying jobs and mostly were filled by men? Those jobs that are holding their own, namely, the health care fields and education are primarily filled by women and women, as a whole gravitate towards! Except for the teachers unions, that seem to get their perks/pay raises after each strike; no other union in which women belong to have that much power/influence! Wages have not risen in the past five years and will continue to stay flat in the next five years! Back in the recession of the 1970's the economy wasn't based or gambled on through risky credit practices such as junk bonds or packaged mortgages for poor credit risks. It goes on and on....Greed knows no boundaries and the greed of many institutions, and corporations are just beginning to be examined and published in the newspapers and the internet! The mismanagement of funds and the high risk taking of putting everything into one basket, ie. junk bonds is JUST about to come out to public scrutiny! Baby! YOU haven't seen NUTHIN' YET!

2008 Sep 08 10:33 AM

[Takayama:]

Somebody should hang the CEOs, they fattened their paychecks but kill the livelihood of the workforce by pay cuts and retrenchments. About time for CHANGE to the pay scale of corporate America, and the rest of the world. 70% of top management's compensation should be re-distributed to their staff, and to the welfare of society. Where is Robin Hood in these times ?

2008 Sep 08 12:50 PM