The BLS employment data for April is out and many will see it as a disappointment. Employment increased by 115,000 jobs while, once again, the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1% to 8.1%. Economists had expected up to 168,000 new jobs (with some low predictions of 125,000 to 89,000). April's job growth came closer to that figure if you count just private sector jobs, which grew by 130,000. But continued government jobs cuts -- a lose of 15,000 jobs in April -- drove the total down.
In some good news, the jobs numbers for February and March were revised upwards.
Unfortunately, the number of involuntary underemployed increased, both the number of workers who could only find part time work and the number of individuals working part time because of slack work or unfavorable business conditions. The biggest increase was with those who could only find part time work. This may be a worrisome indicator that companies continue to be reluctant to hire full time workers.
Leave a comment