http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/02/news/economy/jobs/index.htm?cnn=yes U.S. job growth soars Gain of 308,000 jobs far better than Wall Street forecasts; unemployment rate up to 5.7 percent. April 2, 2004: 8:42 AM EST NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. payrolls grew at the fastest pace in nearly four years in March, the government said Friday, in a report that soared past Wall Street expectations and could play a pivotal role in the presidential election. Payrolls outside the farm sector grew by 308,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department reported, compared with a revised gain of 46,000 in February. The unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent from 5.6 percent. Economists, on average, had expected 123,000 new jobs and unemployment at 5.6 percent, according to Briefing.com. On Wall Street, stock futures jumped, and prices plunged in the bond market, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury as high as 4.15 percent, the highest since February. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. The report comes after months of weakness in the jobs market and could be the boost that the Bush Administration has been waiting for. In its report, the department said service industries such as education and health care added 230,000 jobs in March. Goods-producing industries added 78,000 jobs, including 71,000 new construction jobs. Manufacturing payrolls were unchanged, after 43 months of declines.
This report has a little more detail http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=749&e=1&u=/nm/20040402/bs_nm/economy_dc March Job Growth Surprises with Strength 1 hour, 51 minutes ago Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Tim Ahmann WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employment rose last month at the fastest pace in nearly four years as hiring increased across a wide array of industries, the government said on Friday in a surprisingly strong report that stunned financial markets. The report offers comfort to President Bush (news - web sites) as the jobs market -- a hot political issue in the U.S. presidential campaign -- finally made a decisive break out of a long slump. Nevertheless, U.S. jobs lost since Bush took office still number a hefty 1.8 million. Non-farm payrolls climbed 308,000 in March, helped a bit by the return of workers after a labor dispute at California grocery stores ended, the Labor Department (news - web sites) said. This was the biggest gain since April 2000 and well above the 103,000 rise expected on Wall Street. The big jump in March payrolls stood in sharp relief to the average gains of around 75,000 seen in the prior six months. The unemployment rate, which is determined by a separate survey, ticked up to 5.7 percent from the two-year low of 5.6 percent seen in January and February. The stock market opened strongly, the value of the dollar shot higher and U.S. bond prices plunged as investors were caught flat-footed by the labor market strength. Economists said the report suggested the Federal Reserve (news - web sites) could raise overnight interest rates from the current 1958 low of 1 percent sooner than had been expected. "The Fed is still likely to wait and see if we see similar strong job growth in future months," said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis. "But if we've turned the corner, the Fed may not wait much longer." The department said the end to the California grocery store dispute, which had idled 72,000 workers, boosted March payrolls by 10,000 to 20,000. The impact was muted because many of the returning employees displaced temporary hires. January and February payrolls were revised upward a combined 87,000, contributing to the report's positive tone. "All in all, this is a very strong report," said Kurt Karl, head of research at Swiss Re in New York. "This is a number that everyone has been waiting for." "It bodes well for the economy going forward," he said. Job gains were widespread across industries. Construction payrolls shot up by 71,000, a bounce-back from a 21,000 decline in February many economists had pinned on bad weather. Retailers added 47,000 workers, in part a reflection of the return of the idled grocery store employees. While a long-hoped for rise in manufacturing employment did not materialize, the department said factory payrolls were unchanged last month, finally breaking a string of 43 consecutive monthly declines. The big payrolls jump offered hope the U.S. economy was finally moving out of an unusually long spell in which employment was either falling, or rising too slowly to keep up with the usual growth in the labor force. While the economy climbed out of recession in November 2001, employment has yet to regain its pre-recession peak. In the only other jobless recovery since World War II, which was the crawl back from the 1990-91 recession, it took 14 months for the number of employed to get back to where it stood when the recession ended. This time it is 28 months, and counting.
Can anyone explain why even though more jobs were created than expected the unemployment rate still went up?
No, but maybe this article can elaborate on it. Maybe its just me, but I always thought this time of the year is when people start getting hired. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...com/news?tmpl=story&cid=668&e=8&u=/ap/economy Companies Add Jobs, but Unemployment Up 7 minutes ago By LEIGH STROPE, AP Labor Writer WASHINGTON - The nation's employers added 308,000 new jobs in March, hiring at the fastest pace in four years and providing long-awaited evidence the weak jobs market may be gaining steam. At the same time, the civilian unemployment rate bumped up to 5.7 percent, the Labor Department (news - web sites) reported Friday. In a separate survey of companies, the figures showed widespread hiring in industries across the economy at a time when President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election campaign, counting heavily on a pickup in the jobs market, jumped into high gear. For the first time in 44 months, the nation's factories did not shed jobs. But they weren't hiring either. March's figures show zero gains and losses for manufacturers hammered by the economic downturn that began three years ago. The only sector losing jobs last month was information services, where companies cut about 1,000 jobs. Revisions to payrolls showed a stronger jobs market than previously thought. Companies added 205,000 jobs in January and February, instead of the 118,000 reported last month. "I'm not saying the labor markets are back where they need to be, but this latest job advance together with the positive revisions are making this look like a normal recovery," said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. The jobless rate, compiled in a separate survey of households, inched up by 0.1 percentage point from 5.6 percent in February. That's because more job seekers renewed their searches last month, but were unsuccessful. The health of the nation's economy, especially the job climate, is a major issue in this year's presidential race. The economy has lost almost 2 million jobs since Bush took office in January 2001. President Bush is promoting his message of an improving economy Friday in West Virginia, a state he narrowly won in 2000 and where Democrats are taking him to task for lost jobs. Friday's report "is more evidence the economy has turned the corner and the nation's job market is getting stronger every month," said Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. But for out-of-work Americans, the economic rebound has been frustratingly slow. In March, there were 8.35 million people unemployed, compared with 8.17 million the previous month. The average duration of unemployment has been more than 20 weeks, a 20-year high. "The president and administration officials are expressing pride in the fact that the economy has finally started to create some jobs, but on the third anniversary of the Bush jobs slump, we are still in a deep hole," said Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., top Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee. "We can't really talk about a jobs recovery until we see robust job creation for several months." Jobless workers are increasingly accepting part-time work. The number of people who worked part time for economic reasons rose to 4.7 million in March, up from 4.4 million the previous month. Construction employment rose by 71,000 in March following a decline the previous month. The industry has added 201,000 jobs in the past year. Retailers added 47,000 jobs last month, led by the striking California grocery workers agreeing to a new contract and returning to work. Employment in health care and social services increased by 36,000 in March, with the industry gaining 255,000 jobs in the past year. Professional and business services added 42,000 jobs, and in the leisure and hospitality sector, payrolls rose by 27,000. Transportation and warehousing, utilities and government also added jobs last month.
"Jobless workers are increasingly accepting part-time work. The number of people who worked part time for economic reasons rose to 4.7 million in March, up from 4.4 million the previous month." I think I may have found the 300k new 'jobs' they're talking about...
Part time work doesn't count in the survey. The reason is that these are two different surveys. The unemployment rate is a smaller survey of households, the job survey is a broad survey of businesses. Most economists like the job survey because it covers a much larger sample size, so there is less room for error. Another reason that while more jobs were created, yet unemployment rose is that while the job market gets better, people that had previously pulled out of the job search get back in.
Wasn't it just recently that Repubs were dismissing the non-farm stats and saying how the Household number was more accurate? That number is -3,000.
Sorry, forgot to put the smiley icon w/ the tongue sticking out to denote I was only joking. In fact, IMO, this entire jobs report is a bunch of bs from top to bottom in any case. Trying to make sense out of these fictitious #'s is just a complete waste of time. These #'s are massaged more than Hugh Hefner's jimmy.
Well despite the fact that the liberals are already trying to disparage these very encouraging numbers, I for one am extremely happy to see these figures. I guess I want what's best for America, unlike our left wing lunatic fringers...
I am also happy to see that more jobs were created this month, but I have the ability to see the bigger picture, which is why I am not lauding the administration. You are being incredibly intellectually dishonest by intimating that liberals do not want to see jobs created in this country. It makes you look like a shill who is only interested in bashing out of partisan spite rather than looking at the big picture to get things done.
Let's see if my econ knowledge means anything.. I'm not sure if it's the case for this but... Unemployment usually involves people looking for jobs. Sometimes when the economy is so bad a lot of people will quit looking and no longer fall in the unemployed category. As the economy picks up... these people will start looking for jobs again... so say 200k more jobs were made.. if this raising economy caused 225k people to again start looking. .the unemployment could actually increase.. like I said not sure if that's the reason for this..
Andy, when I see positive numbers come out on the US job situation, that makes me happy. I like to see Americans do well. When I see the traditionally liberal posters on here immediately begin to look for ways to lessen this good news and turn a positive into a negative, I see partisan politics rear its ugly head. They are the ones guilty of the partisan bashing, not me. I'm not looking at the big picture??!?!? Andy, adding 308,000 jobs is good for the big picture.
Let me quote your earlier statement... Partisan bashing. I want to see America adding jobs too and it does make me happy. In the case of this administration, though, it is too little, too late. Add the lackluster numbers (because overall unemployment STILL went UP, I call these numbers lackluster) to the various other problems with the administration (Plame, Iraq, science, deficit, etc.) and it is easy to see that the country will be far better off after the Bush presidency is a memory.
Just watched the NewsHour, and analyst Robert Brooks basically said about the same thing. Anyway, I'm quite happy at this news. Hopefully, it will continue to improve. Of course, the fact that we'll be hearing about this from both presidential candidates is going to suck. Why does EVERYTHING have to be a campaign issue? It's annoying me to no end.
Texx I noticed that you didn’t refute the inference that I made. Just started in on the attack. I’ll let you in a little secret. I’m happy that the job numbers went up. I hope it can be sustained. In the last year my wife and I both had to find new jobs because of downsizing from companies. We were lucky. We're both working again.
