andydee

The Labor Market Has Not Yet Signaled a Turning Point in the Markets

Are you aware of what the critics (not just skeptics) of that May Employment Report are claiming?

Chris Martenson is a critic, and his views were outlined in a June 5th blog..."May Employment Report Not Believable"
www.chrismartenson.com...

He outlines his reasons for concluding the report is bogus, based mainly on two points the positive surprises in the report occurred chiefly in categories that are "modeled", not counted - and he disputes the veracity of the model, and secondly, the hard-to-believe gov't employment numbers, a drop of only 7,000 during a period of severe contraction in States' employments and the ending of 60,000 census takers jobs.

Your "punchline" - " The graph below shows that not only did total hours worked decline in May, but the rate of decline (0.7%) was very much in line with the rate of contraction that workers have experienced since September." seems to support his thesis.

Perhaps we should be paying more attention to the (non-political) ADP report on employment than to the "official" (and political?) BLS reports henceforth.