Shek

Unemployment fell by 0.1% in April to 5.0%.



http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

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"So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

Tarek Morgen

uhm just askling but isn't it normal for unemployment to drop in this month due the end of winter? (or does the data compare it to april last year?, I took a brief look at the source and it seemded to compare it rather to the first three months fo the year).

Over here we usually compare the unemplyment changes with the date of the years before to make out positive/negative trends, as the changes from month to month are often more influecened by seasons and weather (higher unemployment in winter than in sommer for example)

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uh I might be wrong

Shek

Tarek,

You are correct that there is seasonality to the data. This figure is seasonally adjusted.

Julie

U.S. Part-Time Work Increases, Pushing Down Unemployment Rate

By Courtney Schlisserman

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- The drop in the U.S. unemployment rate in April partly reflected a jump in part-time workers, raising concern businesses are still scaling back, economists said.

The number of Americans saying they worked part-time last month due to economic reasons -- either because their hours were cut or they couldn't find full-time work -- jumped to 5.22 million from 4.91 million in March, the Labor Department reported today. That helped the jobless rate unexpectedly fall to 5 percent from 5.1 percent.

The 19 percent increase over the last six months in the number of people not working a full day because of slack business conditions is the biggest in six years. Fewer hours and smaller pay increases, just as food and fuel prices surge, may continue to undermine consumer spending.

``With goods employment still declining sharply, hours worked down, and part-time employment up, this report can't be taken as a signal that the economy is out of the recession woods,'' Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in a note to clients.

Consumer spending advanced at a 1 percent annual pace in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said April 30. That was the smallest gain since the last recession seven years ago.

Along with the drop in the unemployment rate, derived from a survey of households, today's government report also showed payrolls shrank by a smaller than forecast 20,000 workers. The latter is based on the Labor Department's poll of businesses.

Market Reaction

The figures pushed up yields on U.S. Treasury securities as traders bet the Federal Reserve will see less need to lower borrowing costs.

Other components from the report were less reassuring. The measure of unemployment that includes those working part-time for economic reasons rose to 9.2 percent in April, a three-year high, from 9.1 percent.

Wage gains were also meager. Average hourly earnings rose just 0.1 percent, pushing the increase in the year ended in April down to 3.4 percent higher, the smallest since January 2006.

``The weak labor income numbers in an environment of rising headline inflation present yet another challenge for the consumer spending outlook and put even more burden on the tax rebates to support outlays,'' Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, said in a note to clients.

Rebate Checks

The government started sending out tax rebate checks this week as part of its fiscal stimulus plan. Also this week, Federal Reserve policy makers lowered the benchmark overnight lending rate between banks by a quarter percentage point, to 2 percent, in a bid to revive the economy.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News last month forecast consumer spending, which accounts for two-third of the economy, would rise an average 0.5 percent in the first half of the year, the smallest two-quarter gain since the six months that ended March 1991.

Recent reports indicate spending weakened at the start of the second quarter. Cars and light trucks sold at a lower-than- forecast 14.4 million annual pace in April, the fewest since 1998, according to industry figures issued yesterday.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Gun Grape

Its spring break/tourist season on Panama City beach. Every 18 yr old in the county has a part time job.


Sniper, being a devoted biker, I've got to tell you that this is Thunder Run motorcycle weekend at Panama City Beach. And SkynyrdFest kicked off at Club La Vela. The largest nightclub in the US. With the group Second Helping playing.

Thought that would cheer you up (mods we need a devil smilie)

Ryan Bailey

The BLS roughly equates "unemployed" withing having actively sought any employment within the last two weeks, or answering as such in a telephonic sampling.....

Despite our statistical "full employment please note that my agricultural revitalisation plan would bring our country to 100 % employment virtually overnight.

The primary benefit to the nation would be Independence (e.g. food & energy).

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"If we will not be governed by God then we will be ruled by tyrants" -William Penn