No. of Recommendations: 3
Yeah, let's look at the jobs report.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: PDF documentBoth the unemployment rate, at 4.0 percent, and the number of unemployed people, at 6.6 million,
changed little in May. A year earlier, the jobless rate was 3.7 percent, and the number of unemployed
people was 6.1 million. (See table A-1.)To determine the significance of the added 500k unemployed we would need to dive into population numbers.
When you read the actual report, you see the phrasing "little changed" a lot. Meaning, not much movement in either direction. Hardly a "monster" anything.
What about wages?
In May, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 14 cents,
or 0.4 percent, to $34.91. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.1
percent. In May, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees
increased by 14 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $29.99. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)This would be good to compare to inflation rates.
