While the payrolls report (and wage gains) was an unmitigated disaster for anyone seeking "evidence" of an economic rebound (i.e., the Federal Reserve), there was some good news in the Unemployment rate which declined from 4.4% to 4.3%, the lowest going back to 2001.
There is just one problem with the above "silver lining": the unemployment rate declined for all the wrong reasons, because contrary to expectations, the Household Survey reported that the number of employed Americans actually declined by 233K to 152.923 million, the lowest going back to February.
So how could the unemployment rate decline as the number of employed Americans tumbled? Simple: the labor force plunged, with the BLS reporting that the total labor force declined by 429,000 Americans in the month of May. This was the result of a whopping 608,000 American exiting, as the number of people not in the labor force soared to 94.983 million, up from 94.375 million in April.
As a result, the labor participation rate tumbled once again, sliding to 62.7%, the lowest print since 2016.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
2 comments:
Deceptive reporting. They don't mention the demo of Baby Boomers who have retired because they'r in their seventies. Household survey doesn't relay the demographics of said households and just glosses over particulars. If these were young people who were looking for jobs, it would be a much different number. This is how media spins, kids. Have fun.
Yep. I'm one of them out of the labor force.. Don't know if i'll go back. may try for disability. no one wants unexperienced ( my former jobs are all gone due to High tech..) older people.
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