Convoluted Unemployment and non-Farm Payrolls Data
The US Labor Department has released the Unemployment data and the change in non-Farm Payrolls for December-2010. The headline figure on unemployment is 9.4% but the more closely followed figure of the non-Farm Payrolls came in at 103,000. After strong…
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The 9.4% figure compares to a 9.7% expectation on unemployment and against a preliminary November figure reported as 9.8%. The payrolls figure compares to 150,000 expected from Dow Jones and closer to 175,000 was expected from Reuters. The private sector jobs was actually a gain of 113,000, offset by a 10,000 government jobs decrease.
If that drop is accurate in the official unemployment rate is accurate, that may be the largest one-month drop since 1998.
Sadly, the translation here is that about 44.3% of those who are unemployed were without a job for longer than six months. Average hourly earnings rose by $0.03 to $22.78 in December from a level of $22.75 in November while the average hours was flat at 34.3 hours.
The best way to describe today’s data is a mixed bag, leaning toward disappointment.
JON C. OGG
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.
