Unemployment Back Up: 8.2%/14.8%
Reports coming in this morning show the unemployment rate rising a tenth of a point, as only 69K jobs were added in May. If you count “discouraged workers”, their numbers went up as well — to 14.8%. Workforce participation continues to hover at 30 year lows.
Last month, analysts boasted hopeful spin numbers that the unemployment rate was 8.1% — forgetting to mention the part that it was because 341K had left the workforce. Now, what about the month of April, again?
The report comes a month after the government reported that just 115,000 new jobs were added in April, a number that helped contribute to a general malaise about economic growth.
Even that number was worse than thought: The BLS revised the April number down to 77,000.
Additionally, stocks were down their worst week since 2010. A quick look at pre-market data shows that they are spooked by the report as well this morning. Let’s see what Friday brings. At least for President Obama, he has six fundraiser to attend today!
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