ADP Says US Companies Cut 20000 Jobs in February

BusinessWeek ^ | 3/3/10 | Timothy R. Homan

[Kartographer]

U.S. companies in February cut the fewest jobs in two years, according to data from a private report based on payrolls.

The 20,000 decline was in line with forecasts and followed a revised 60,000 drop the prior month, data from ADP Employer Services showed today. Over the previous six months, ADP’s initial figures have overstated the Labor Department’s first estimate of private payroll losses by as little as 10,000 in January to as much as 151,000 in November.

[Kartographer]

BUT...But...but the Unicorn Master promised....

[truthkeeper]

The 20,000 decline was in line with forecasts and followed a revised 60,000 drop the prior month,

I've been googling this all morning and can't seem to find a story on the revised 60,000 drop for January.

So when we got all that "good news" in January about jobs...it was all a lie, right Betty?

[wny]

but it was better than expected...

[autumnraine]

This article is touting this as a GOOD thing. They ONLY lost 20,000 jobs. I guess we all are supposed to get happy because things aren’t declining as fast as they could be!

I still go back to my water in a bucket analogy. If there is a hole in the bottom of a bucket, it would stand to reason that as the bucket is emptied the rate of water leaving isn’t as fast. Does it mean that the hole is fixed? Or that you are running out of water?

At some point, the job declines will get smaller because there aren’t as many damn jobs available to lose!

[bobsatwork]

The recovery is on full display here in Delaware. Today's Delaware On Line notes that Astrazeneca is laying off 550 people, and "The news is the latest in a series of painful layoff announcements hitting some of the state's largest industries. In the last 12 months, nearly every major employment sector has lost jobs in Delaware."

[b4its2late]

O bama will count this as 40,000 jobs saved!

[Freddd]

But I thought is was because of the snow storms ? I mean that’s why the least amount of jobs in years happened????

Sumthin smellin fishy...

[11th Commandment]

My theory is that the labor department does these revisions of prior months so they can report an adjusted average that doesn't look too bad. In January the actual unemployment rate was 10.1, but "seasonally adjusted" to 9.7%. The reason why the RATS came up with the "Snow Storm" unemployment line is they knew this ponzi game of adjusting prior months had run out. SO, although job losses will be low in January, the seasonally adjusted rate will post an increase- maybe hit 10%.

[Kartographer]

“Sumthin smellin fishy...”

OK don’t bring Pelosi into this! ;-)