Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Unemployment Beneath the Government's Figures

Here are a few thoughts from David Rosenberg:
"What was really key were the details of the Household Survey, which provide a rather alarming picture of what is happening in the labor market.
"First, employment in this survey showed a plunge of 392,000, but that number was flattered by a surge in self-employment (whether these newly minted consultants were making any money is another story) as wage & salary workers (the ones that work at companies, big and small) plunged 637,000 — the largest decline since March (when the stock market was testing its lows for the cycle). As an aside, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also publishes a number from the Household survey that is comparable to the nonfarm survey (dubbed the population and payroll-adjusted Household number), and on this basis, employment sank — brace yourself — by over 1 million, which is unprecedented. We shall see if the nattering nabobs of positivity discuss that particularly statistic in their post-payroll assessments; we are not exactly holding our breath."

my note: This 1 million figure being true, this would be the first time in history that more than 1,000,000 Americans lost their jobs in a single month!