10 Million Leave U.S. Labor Force Since April 2007

Just recently the April employment report was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) which showed a surprise jump in employment for the month of April of 165,000 jobs.  The general consensus for the report was 153,000 jobs so the "better than expected" news was credited to the surge in the financial markets.

Submitted by Lance Roberts of Street Talk Live blog, Just recently the April employment report was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) which showed a surprise jump in employment for the month of April of 165,000 jobs.  The general consensus for the report was 153,000 jobs so the "better than expected" news was credited to the surge in the financial markets.

Quick Notes About the Unemployment Rate

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development today released figures for January employment revised to account for benchmark revisions. Nonfarm payroll employment and nonfarm private employment both rose. But the latter just barely exceeded levels of a year previous, while nonfarm payroll employment fell short. Figure 1 presents the nonfarm payroll employment series, while Figure 2 presents the private nonfarm employment series.

Here are some questions I'm thinking about ... 1) US Policy: This is probably the biggest downside risk for the US economy in 2013. I assume some sort of fiscal agreement will be reached soon, but how much austerity will be included? What will happen with the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)? What about emergency unemployment benefits? What about extending the mortgage relief for debt forgiveness (important for short sales)?

Paranoia and Conspiracy Theory in a Time of Excel I debated whether to discuss the hysterical assertions of manipulation surrounding the BLS’s September employment situation release, since it had been so well covered.

Daryl Montgomery submits: Every May and June millions of students graduate from high school and college and enter the U.S. labor force, swelling the numbers. Yet in the just released employment report for June, the BLS claimed the labor force decreased by 652,000 last month. This followed a decrease of 286,000 in May. This of course is not possible unless the U.S. economy is in the midst of a depression.