Three Months of Job Losses=Recession

[marmar]

from TPM Cafe:



From: Coffee House
Three Months of Job Losses=Recession
By Jared Bernstein - April 5, 2008, 12:08AM



I don’t like to be dismal, but recessions just bring me down. They also bring down the number of jobs in the labor market, down 80,000 last month, the third month in a row that employment contracted and the largest monthly loss in five years.

The unemployment rate jumped up from 4.8% to 5.1%, the highest jobless rate since September 2005,

Since employment peaked in December, payrolls have contracted by 232,000. Private sector payrolls were down 98,000 last month, and 109,000 in February. Since hiring in the government sector is less susceptible to cyclical swings in the overall economy, private sector job patterns provide a clearer signal of the weakening labor market. Since they peaked in November, private sector jobs are down 300,000.

It is often the case that once they get around to it, the official recession is declared to have started at or near the payroll employment peak. Thus, there’s a good chance that the recession will ultimately be recognized to have begun in December or January.


As is the case in a downturn, the increase in the unemployment rate was driven by too many people chasing too few jobs, as folks coming into the job market and laid-off workers competed for a dwindling stock of available jobs. As a share of the unemployed, these laid-off job seekers were 53.7% last month, the highest share in four years.

Demonstrating the pervasive nature of job loss, for the fifth month in a row, fewer than half of industries have added jobs. Construction employment fell both in residential and non-residential building and contracting, and unemployment in the industry has jumped from 9% to 12% over the past year. The loss of jobs in this sector is one likely factor behind the increase in Hispanic unemployment, up 0.7 tenths of a percent last month, and 1.7 points over the past year (2.1 points for men). .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/05/three_months_of_job_lossesrece/

[Warpy]

1. Correction: three months of job losses too large to cover up

They have been lying about jobs from the beginning, using actuarial tables to guess how many jobs should have been created and posting it as fact, counting part time jobs with no benefits the same as full time jobs with benefits, and not counting anyone who has been out of work long enough to run through the six months of unemployment insurance.

[butterfly77]

2. and the media went along with them...