Vikram Saxena

Economic Slowdown: Employment Holding Up Well

fxtrader:

Your posts focus on my interpretation of the job numbers and completely ignore the thesis behind the arguments.

Having worked in 'real' companies before coming to Wall Street, I saw with my own eyes how companies became leaner and more effecient. I also noticed that unlike the past where it was easy to shed excess, there is not much excess left. The unemployment rates for college grads is close to an all time low. That is why I am not at all surprised that job losses in this cycle are not as severe as before.

I also gave specific arguments about why the financial services number is better than what many expected (repo/refi in the mortgage market).

I had gone through the BLS report specifically focussing on the construction and financial sector. Both of them show big year to year losses; construction even shows a month-to-month loss on a seasonally adjusted basis.

All the doom/gloom headlines condemn the birth-death (of companies) model; however they too are shallow in their interpretation. The same bearish pundits did not mind when the same model contributed to a big loss in January.

If you take a dispassionate look at the birth-death model, you will see some correlation with reality.

-The fourth quarter of last year was the time when the economy really hit the brakes and consumer spending plumetted. So it is not surprising that a lot of businesses did not survive the weak Christmas season and shut down (death of businesses).

-Right now, the economic trends (ISM indices) are reversing their downward trend and after accounting for seasonal factors, it is likely that the new business formation is increasing. This is being reflected in the birth aspect of the birth-death model.