[lbo-talk] employment

[Doug Henwood]

This morning's U.S. employment report sucked. The survey of employers 
showed a loss of 93,000 jobs, when flat to slightly up was a 
reasonable expectation. We've now had seven consecutive months of job 
loss, something we've never seen outside a recession. The workweek 
was short and almost every industrial sector shed jobs. The survey of 
households showed a shrinkage in the labor force - the entire reason 
for the decline in unemployment from 6.2% to 6.1%. The share of the 
adult population working was flat, and remains at a low for this 
cycle. People are buying stuff, but it's not with their paychecks - 
it's all tax refunds and mortgage refinancing. If the job market 
doesn't recover soon, we're in trouble.

Doug