February 5, 2021 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The U.S. economy gave new signs that the recovery has stalled. Today, February 5, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy added just 49,000 jobs in January. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the economy to add 100,000 jobs in the month. The government statisticians also revised downward the jobs performance of the economy November and December. In December the revised figures say, the economy lost 227,000 jobs rather than the initially reported 140,000. In November the economy created 72,000 fewer jobs than first reported.
December 4, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Th Standard & Poor’s 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the NASDAQ Composite all hit all time closing highs today. It’s enough to make you doubt that the U.S. economy added only 245,000 jobs in November. This was a huge miss on projections from economists the the economy would add 450,000 jobs. That projection would have itself been bad news since it would have confirmed trends that show the economic recovery losing momentum under the impact of the current surge in coronavirus infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. November was the slowest month for job growth since the pandemic shut down the economy in the spring.
November 19, 2020 | Daily JAM |
For the week ended November 14, 742,000 workers filed new claims for unemployment in regular state programs. That was an increase of 31,000 from the prior week. The increase was the first in five weeks.
September 4, 2020 | Daily JAM |
The United States added 1.37 millions jobs in August, the fourth straight monthly gain. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected an increase of 1.35 million jobs. The official unemployment rate fell by more than expected by almost two percentage points to 8.4%....
August 13, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The number of workers applying for unemployment benefits from state unemployment programs fell below 1 million for the week ended August 8. At 963,000 the number was below the 1.18 million new claims for the week of August 1. Economists had expected initial claims of...
August 10, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy added 1.8 million jobs in July. Not a bad number, on an absolute scale. 1.8 million jobs is a lot of jobs. And the total did beat economists' expectations by about 300,000 jobs. But... The total...
August 5, 2020 | Daily JAM, Short Term |
The ADP Research Institute report on private payrolls doesn't always track with the government's monthly jobs report, but the trends usually matches up. Which argues that Friday's July jobs report will show that the economy and the labor market took a step backward in...
July 16, 2020 | Daily JAM |
Glibly, I've been saying that the extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits in the coronavirus rescue package will end on July 31. That gives Congress a scant two weeks to act to renew the payments that have helped so many workers through the unemployment caused by...
July 2, 2020 | Daily JAM, Short Term |
Stocks refused to follow the headline job gains reported today--and instead focused upon the uncertainty in the economy looking forward as the re-opening economy gave off signs that the recovery might be about to stall--or even step backward. Even though the June jobs...
July 2, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The U.S economy added 4.8 million jobs last month in June. And the official unemployment rate fell to 11.1%. That's the good news. Unfortunately, the gains in jobs and the drop in unemployment are based on data from a survey that measured conditions in the week ended...
June 28, 2020 | Daily JAM |
... really, really confusing and almost certainly misleading economic data. On Thursday, July 2, a day early because of the Fourth of July weekend, the Labor Department will report jobs numbers for June. Right now economists surveyed by Bloomberg are expecting a 3...
June 24, 2020 | Daily JAM |
In May governments shed more than 570,000 workers as states and cities grappled with huge budget shortfalls created by the coronavirus pandemic and shutdowns of economic activity imposed in an effort to get the outbreak under control. those layoffs are going to get...
