and the MSM won't ever report the implications, anyway,
so what difference does it make?"
Posted on 02/01/2013 7:04:28 AM PST by whitedog57
The employment numbers are out today. The headline numbers are not good news for housing: U3 unemployment ROSE to 7.9% and U6 unemployment and partial employment remained the same at 14.4%.
The good news? Labor force participation didn’t get any worse! It remained the same at 63.6%.
The bad news? We are now like Japan in terms of labor force participation after we leveled off under President Clinton and began declining.
The civilian employment to population ratio also remained the same as a measly 58.6%.
But also like Japan, our employment to population ratio is generally declining. Like the movie “There’s Something About Mary,” there is something about Clinton since our employment to population ratio leveled off and began to decline in Clinton’s second term as President.
At least nonfarm payrolls printed at 157,000. That is DOWN from the revised figure of 196,000 in December. Do I detect a trend?
In January, job gains occurred in retail trade, construction, health care, and wholesale trade, while employment edged down in transportation and warehousing. (See table B-1.)
Employment in retail trade rose by 33,000 in January, compared with an average monthly gain of 20,000 in 2012. Within the industry, job growth continued in January in motor vehicle and parts dealers (+7,000), electronics and appliance stores (+5,000), and clothing stores (+10,000).
In January, employment in construction increased by 28,000. Nearly all of the job growth occurred in specialty trade contractors (+26,000), with the gain about equally split between residential and nonresidential specialty trade contractors. Since reaching a low in January 2011, construction employment has grown by 296,000, with one-third of the gain occurring in the last 4 months. However, the January 2013 level of construction employment remained about 2 million below its previous peak level in April 2006.
Coupled with the Q4 GDP print of -0.1%, this is indeed a cold economic winter. And not good news for the housing market.
And why is the market up over 100 points this morning?
Does not make sense.....
Since things remain slow investors think that rates will remain microscopic. Therefore, the only place to make money is in shares. Thus with “bad” news the stock market goes up.
At the end of last year I got completely out of fixed income investments and into shares. The share price has gone up and down, but the dividends stomp what interest payments I was receiving. I keep trying to talk Senior Mineral into doing the same, but he says he is too old to change and can’t stand the paper losses on price declines.
/ s
The unemployment rate stays magically below 8% at 7.9%
Meanwhile, Obama’s approval ratings march toward 60%.
High unemployment + zero interest rates = Fed printing presses running full steam = $$$ for banks to invest.
Is this saying that lower labor force participation is better? If so, why? I don't get it.
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