[lbo-talk] employment

[Doug Henwood]

Disappointing U.S. employment report this morning - the headline gain 
in payrolls of of 146,000 (probably depressed somewhat by bad 
weather) was well below the long-term average of 220,000 monthly 
gains. Factory employment declined for the fifth month in a row. The 
unemployment rate fell from 5.4% to 5.2%, but that was mainly because 
people (mostly men) dropped out of the labor force. We're now about 
10 million jobs below where we would be in a "normal" 
recovery/expansion.

Doug