Just in case anybody's still out there - the jobs report

[dancing_space_monkeys]

This used to be my favorite post of each month on T.S. The monthly jobs report.

I still have fond memories of late 2003 through 2004 when job growth came back, and many posters kept screaming that it was all fake, and that we were still losing jobs. Yet, despite their self-proclaimed brilliance, none of them could ever tell us what the "real" numbers were, they could never tell me where their information came from, nor could they tell us why only they knew this stuff, while every major news organization in the country was fooled...

[dancing_space_monkeys]

145,000 jobs added in December. Not spectacular, but more than enough to account for population growth.

Unemployment rate remains at 3.5% due to a slightly larger than average increase in the size of the labor force.

[dancing_space_monkeys]

225,000 jobs added. a huge number.

Unemployment went up a bit due to a downward spike in "hidden" jobs, but that happens sometime.

Also, the job force participation rate ticked up despite that, due to a gigantic drop in the civilian non institutional population. This was likely due to adjustments in population estimate.

[dancing_space_monkeys]

Mind blowing 273,000 jobs added to the economy. That's twice as many as the increase in the overall population.

Unemployment edged down from 3.6% to 3.5% due to a slight decrease in the labor force and a drop in "unofficial" jobs.

[whatmorefabric]

Most of those jobs are low paying service jobs like Mickey D's or healthcare workers  or Jobs that require a high degree of skills like software engineers.   No middle class,  blue color middle ground. 

You still have 4.3 million part time workers that would like full time work.   This number shows there are still too many low paying part time jobs on the market.  The average work week for the month was 34 hours.

There was also an increase in census jobs and temporary  government jobs.

The number of families that live on a minimum wage job is up to 18 %,  the same level as 2008.

[dancing_space_monkeys]

Not all of them are low paying or top end. Some are regular in the middle jobs.

In any case, as the unemployment rate drops (not counting the recent coronavirus issue), better jobs will have to open up as we get "full" of low end jobs.

Things are in a mess right now, but should be coming back soon.

[dancing_space_monkeys]

The snapback begins and continues.  2.6 Million jobs added in May, 4.8 Million added in June. We're coming back from this, slowly but surely.