June employment

The BLS jobs data for June saw a slight increase in the unemployment rate -- up 0.1% to 9.5% -- and a larger than expected increase in the employment decline (467,000). As the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal noted, the number had been expected to be around 365,000.

Once again, however, I do see one of those famous (infamous?) "green shoots" in the data on involuntary underemployed (part time for economic reasons). That number has been relatively stable for the past four months at around 9 million underemployed. As I said last month, not great news, but possibly an indicator of a bottom.