Working Thoughts

• Analysts expected a gain of 13,000
• A benchmark adjustment was made to the unemployment numbers for the last 18 months

• The job losses of 2009 were actually under reported by a sum of 617,000
• One year ago the US lost 779,000 jobs – still jaw dropping

• October was revised to a loss of 224,000 from an original reading of 190,000 and revised reading of 111,000
  
• November was revised to a gain of 64,000 jobs, up from an original gain of 4,000
  

• The first gain in 23 months

• December was revised to a loss of 150,000 from an original loss of 85,000
• 14.8 million of people are unemployed, it was 15.3 million in December 2009
• 9.3 million are unemployed due to job loss, down from 9.7 million last month
• 6.3 million people have been jobless for more than 6 months
  
• Temporary work, which usually precedes full time employment gains, added 52,000 jobs in January. This is after adding 46,500 jobs in December
• Major federal government hiring is underway for the census – 9,000 jobs were added (part of an overall increase of 33,000)
  
• Layoffs are flattening out, but hiring isn’t happening

Unemployment rate fell at 9.7%

• Analysts predicted it would stay at 10.0% or possibly go up
  

• The Unemployment rate hit 10.8 in 1982
• As employment picks up, the labor pool will grow again and the unemployment rate should go up
  

• The U-6 report, which is a broader group, dropped to 16.5%. It reached 17.3% last month
• GDP, which earned its status as an economic indicator for growth in the 1950s, showed an annualized gain of 5.7% in the 4th quarter of 2009
• PMI, a measure of manufacturing pace, showed a reading of 58.4%. Anything above 50% means the machines are running.
  

Specific Segment Job numbers:

• Manufacturing added 11,000 jobs
• Construction lost 75,000 jobs
• Retailers gained 42,100
• Leisure and Hospitality Services lost 14,000 jobs
  
• Government sector lost 8,000, Federal gains were 33,000
  
• Education and Health Services grew by 16,000 jobs

• Health Care and Social Assistance grew by 17,100
  

• Professional and Business Services grew by 44,000

• Temporary work added 52,000 jobs in December

Wage (can be revised):

• The average weekly paycheck (seasonally adjusted) is $629.04
• The average hourly earning (seasonally adjusted) is $18.89 – up 5 cents
  
• The average hourly work week rose to 33.3
  

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Job Report Stats Summary