Unemployment Ticks Up
The so-called Summer of Recovery continues to depress. The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the national unemployment rate increased to 9.6% for August, up from July’s 9.5%, while the economy shed another 54,000 jobs.
Nonfarm payroll employment changed little (-54,000) in August, and the unemployment rate was about unchanged at 9.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Government employment fell, as 114,000 temporary workers hired for the decennial census completed their work. Private-sector payroll employment continued to trend up modestly (+67,000)
You know things are rough when even the good news is bad; the modest improvement in private-sector payroll was a drop from the previous month’s upwardly revised gain of 107,000. In other words, the economy produced 40,000 fewer jobs last month than the previous, while the overall unemployment rate creeped closer to 10%. Toss in those who have either given up looking for work or are working part time and would prefer full-time employment but can’t find it, and the so-called underemployment rate jumps to 16.7%.
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