Friday, May 7, 2010

290K jobs added, unemployment rises to 9.9%

I am at a hold off stance.

First, I know the Census Bureau is hiring and hired 100K of these jobs. Word is that they are STILL hiring, so those numbers will help with job growth. TEMPORARY JOB GROWTH. Next, the unemployment numbers jump from 9.7% to 9.9%.

Let's be clear, I need to see these numbers fleshed out by late summer, early fall. Why? The census jobs will be over or coming to an end, then we can see what the REAL job numbers are. Are we talking temporary jobs, temp to perm jobs, permanent jobs? That is the real question out here because many people I know, some with mutliple degrees to high school diplomas are still not unemployed.

I am hoping for the best, not the worst, but unemployment number ticking up deflates the hurrah, somewhat.

U.S. employment grew at the fastest pace in four years in April as private sector businesses ramped up hiring, showing the labor market recovery gaining steam.

Employers added 290,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department said Friday, far more than analysts had expected. The department also revised figures for February and March to show 121,000 more jobs were added than previously estimated.

"I think we are moving into this very reassuring range of strong employment growth. It is consistent with the way the economy is going," said Kurt Karl, chief U.S. economist at Swiss Re in New York.

The unemployment rate, however, rose to 9.9 percent as discouraged workers started to look for work again.

Stubbornly high unemployment has been a political sore spot for President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats, even though the job market is showing increased vigor.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected nonfarm payrolls to rise 200,000 last month and the jobless rate to remain unchanged at 9.7 percent. The median forecast from the 20 most accurate forecasters was for a 188,000 increase in payrolls. read more here....



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