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| Why would the weather have anything to do with hiring people?? |
This takes us to one of the shadiest things out there these days, the unemployment rate. While I appreciate and agree that the media should be positive about this issue (and in general really. It would be great to find a news station that focuses on the positive developments out there instead of the negative but I guess no one would be interested in that since they all do it the same way?) it is badly skewered. Why? Because everyone knows that the economic recovery, or lack thereof, comes down to jobs. So if you keep hearing that the job market is improving you will think that the economy is too. And it is to some extent, just really slowly and only in certain areas.
Well this article has some cold hard facts than need to be looked at. This December marked the lowest amount of hiring in 3 years. In one small bit of humor here, they say that it is probably temporary and possibly weather related!! Am I missing something here?? Temporary when it is the lowest number in 3 years, not 3 months?? Why would the weather have anything to do with hiring people?? It is not as if the cold was enough to shut down businesses. The little bit of momentum has vanished and is now going in the opposite direction. What is notable about all of this is that again it flies completely opposite of all the other info being trotted out by the Government on the economy. And that is not all. Transportation payrolls suffered their first decline in 5 months and the average workweek for all workers declined slightly (more evidence of companies cutting back, is it because of having to pay higher wages?). Finally, let’s look at the actual unemployment rate itself. It is declining now because more people are leaving the labor force, not because people are getting hired for jobs. That means that their unemployment benefits have expired, and that they have been unemployed for so long that they simply give up and stop looking. I am pretty sure that is not the way we want to lower this statistic!
Why I am mentioning all this? Because it is really what is going on out there and we all need to know. While I consider myself the opposite of gloom and doom, these are vital numbers that we need to be told about so that we are not living under any false pretenses and know that they is a ton more work to do in this area. Possibly the understatement of the year for me so far, but it is only January so please be patient. There is also some good news in there, employment in the retail sector, payroll gains in professional and business services, and manufacturing employment is up for the 5th month (but they are slowing since November). What are your thoughts on this critical issue?
U.S. job growth weakest in three years, weather a factor
Orin Rosenfeld
President
Rosenfeld Realty Advisors
9858 Glades Rd. Suite 209
Boca Raton, FL 33434
Phone: 561-756-1665
Fax: 561-470-0707
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