[lbo-talk] strong jobs report

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Sat Apr 3 06:10:22 PST 2004


On Friday, April 2, Doug Henwood wrote:


> 308,000 jobs added in March, best in four years. Very broad gains - and
> not at temp firms.

What do you think of the argument of this fellow at Wells Fargo:

http://www.drsohn.com/04pres/sohn/2004/MarEmployment.pdf

He says almost all the increase is accounted for by an increase in part-time jobs. Although oddly that doesn't stop the rest of his report from being strong and upbeat:

<quote>

The report was also helped by the significant jump in part-time workers for economic reasons to 4.7 million from 4.4 million. In fact, the increase in part-timers accounted for the vast majority of the increase in employment. The average duration of unemployment has been lengthening, persuading unemployed workers to accept part-time jobs. This in part explains the reason for the decline in the average workweek and no increase in overtime.

<unquote>

Michael



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