April Jobs Report: What You Need to Know

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Money McBags was initially in a good mood this morning as when he was scouring the internet for news/data/information, he learned that Wonder Woman was turning a delicious 69 (and it is news like that for which Money McBags lives), but then the jobs number came out and didn't just put a turd in his punchbowl, but took the punchbowl, spilled out all of the punch, and then proceeded to fill it with a cacophony of fetid bile made up of what had to be 10 year old kimchi, expired mayonnaise, and Lindsay Lohan's saliva. The headline was that 81k private sector jobs were created despite 125k overall job losses due to the firing of 225k temporary census workers. And while that is mostly true, it obfuscates exactly how bad the numbers were like Goldman has obfuscated their real derivatives dealings with AIG.
Read a detailed (and entertaining) job report analysis.
http://whengeniusprevailed.blogspot.com/2010/07/7210-midafternoon-report-more-bad-macro.html

Money McBags of CA 4:48PM July 02, 2010

What the jobless numbers do not report is the large number of workers who had been working off the books and have lost their jobs. I have had two jobs over the past three years that were off the books. The employer refused to do the paperwork to put me on the books so that I might be able to collect unemployment insurance. The reason that I did not pay for the unemployment insurance myself is because the amount that I was making was already 50% less than I had been earning, and wasn't enough for me to come close to paying my bills. There are no numbers for the number of people who are unemployed and not collecting unemployment, but there are millions of us. Realistically the unemployment figures are probably 3%-4% higher when these people are taken into consideration.

Michael Cohen of NY 10:50AM May 23, 2009

The economy is still sliding at a slower pace, but it looks as stabilizing because investor are back on Wall Street buying shares at bargain prices. That is a good omen, but definitely not a turn around. The consumers are limiting their purchases to necessities only, and many unemployed or underemployed spend their savings or are going into debt to survive. And that means when the recovery starts, its upswing will be slow as those with depleted their savings will start to save, and those with debts will start to pay up - rather than start spending to racket up the economy faster.
Then, there is the import/export factor which will recover slowly as we will import less for quite some time, and we will export less because most global economies are broke to buy from us. Plus many people were caught with their pants down financially when the Wall Street dived, and they would probably become tightwads when their employment situation is resolved. I totally agree with German Chancellor Angela Merkel who believes that the present economic collapse was caused because people spent excessively and saved very little. I am sure that millions have gotten a good lesson, and spending like drunken sailors after the recovery might not be an option for many. We are about 5 months from the next Christmas buying season, but I expect that to be quite lean - even with deep discounts.
Where do we go from here? Nobody knows. Economists unfortunately are not the priests of the economy; they are the clowns. Even Warren Buffet will attest to that because his golden investment boat has hit the rocks and leaks badly. And there were reports in the news that some rich people who had lost most or everything they had committed suicide. Certainly Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels will be laughing at their graves, and if we could have a seance, they would tell us: "I told you so." But for the rest of us, there is not going to be any laughing but only economic and financial anxiety. Capitalism gave us a wild ride for a few years, but when it sopped suddenly, many of us fell off the saddle. Now we have a long trek ahead of us to financial stability. Nikos Retsos, retired professor

Nikos Retsos of IL 1:57PM May 08, 2009

The private sector will KEEP shedding jobs because there is no market. While they are doing this, Obama's plan is massively borrowing and spending, which is TEMPORARILY putting some people to work, thus masking how disasterous this problem really is.
A year from now, the private sector's ability to employ people will be ravaged, the Gov't will have swelled its ranks, all on borrowed money and on the backs of the few remaining workers. In an economy like that, the nation does not generate product or wealth, and thus can NOT pay back its debt. It can only keep sinking into the abyss.

Max of PA 1:23PM May 08, 2009

Layoffs Drop to 539K in April; Jobless Rate Rises
The Labor Department tally released Friday wasn't nearly as deep as the 620,000 job cuts that economists were expecting, and was helped by a burst of GOVERNMENT HIRING.
More people living on the taxpayer’s dime – great news! We should all be so happy that the government is getting bigger. Give me a break

Larry of CA 12:57PM May 08, 2009