Saturday, August 6, 2016

Response to the July jobs report.

Here is a graphic representation of the report. It is from the BLS report for July 2016.
 
 
 
 
This is what the report says:
 
"Household Survey Data
 
The unemployment rate held at 4.9 percent in July, and the number of unemployed persons was
 
essentially unchanged at 7.8 million. Both measures have shown little movement, on net, since August
of last year. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, unemployment rates in July were little changed for adult men (4.6
 
percent), adult women (4.3 percent), teenagers (15.6 percent), Whites, (4.3 percent), Blacks (8.4
percent), Asians (3.8 percent), and Hispanics (5.4 percent). (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In July, the number of persons unemployed less than 5 weeks decreased by 258,000. At 2.0 million, the
number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was about unchanged over the
 
month and accounted for 26.6 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.)
Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.8 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 59.7
 
percent, changed little in July. (See table A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as
 
involuntary part-time workers) was little changed at 5.9 million in July. These individuals, who would
have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or
because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)
In July, 2.0 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, about unchanged from a year
 
earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and
were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not
counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
(See table A-16.)
Among the marginally attached, there were 591,000 discouraged workers in July, little different from a
 
year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently
looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.4 million persons
marginally attached to the labor force in July had not searched for work for reasons such as school
attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)..."

Here are my conclusions:

1. The employment picture did not change in the US in spite of the Media hoopla.

2. In order to increase employment a monthly job growth of 300,000+ is needed. This was not reached.

3. Any professional money manager can look up these figures and see that the Stock Market rally had nothing to do with the employment report.

4. The July figures had nothing to do with the PM changes.

5. IMHO, the job gains that occurred in May were undercounted and showed up in June and July. See the Figure.  If this is true then jobs growth actually slowed in June and July.

6. These numbers will not motivate the FED to raise interest rates. 
 

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