No doubt people who just read headlines will notice the unemployment rate dipping to 8.1% from 8.3% and believe it as a sign of economic progress. They may even pick up on the creation of 96,000 jobs.
However, the drop in unemployment is not due to the creation of 96,000 jobs it is due to approximately 364,000 people dropping out of the workforce.
How does one "drop out" of the workforce? Two methods; the most common is people report that they did not look for any jobs that week, the other is they run out of unemployment benefits.
So where are the jobs?
- Foodservice and drink establishments: 28,000
- Professional and technical servies: 27,000
- Healthcare: 17,000
- Financial Services: 11,000
- Manufacturing: -15,000
And average salaries? They dropped also.
Added to the mix is the bad news that the previous job creation figures were adjusted -19,000 for June and -22,000 for a total of 41,000 less than anticipated this summer.
Job growth failed to hit the rather modest estimate of 125,000 despite the average monthly job growth YTD being 139,000.
[edited to add link to BLS data]
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