Highlights from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment / unemployment report for January released on February 5th.
- Unadjusted U-3 was Up from 6.5% to 6.8%
- Adjusted U-3 was Down from 6.7% to 6.3%
- Unadjusted U-6 was Up from 11.6% to 12.0%
- Labor Force Participation was Down from 61.5% to 61.4%
- Unadjusted Employment Down from 143.700 million to 140.927 million
According to the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
“The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 6.3 percent in January, and nonfarm payroll employment changed little (+49,000). The labor market continued to be impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it. Notable job gains in professional and business services and in both public and private education were offset by losses in leisure and hospitality, in retail trade, in health care, and in transportation and warehousing.”
Of course, they are talking about “Seasonally Adjusted Jobs” from the “Current Population Survey (CPS)” rather than looking at the results reported by actual companies in their “Current Employment Statistics survey (CES)”
But looking at the CES report we see…
Originally the BLS reported 143.777 million jobs for December, this month they adjusted that slightly.
So currently they are saying 143.700 million jobs for December and 140.927 million for January.
which is actually a decrease of 2,850,000 jobs based on their original estimates.
[Read more…] about Unemployment Goes From Extraordinarily Bad to “Only” Normally Bad