Call it the Labor Market waltz. Every time the job market seems to take one promising step forward, the employment outlook takes two discouraging steps back.
Biz Buzz: A daily update on economic and business news
Archive: A comprehensive listing of Biz Buzz columns
So it was this morning, when the Labor Department reported one bit of good news: It seems that only 8,000 jobs were lost in September–in the immediate aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita–not 35,000 as was previously reported.
But without missing a beat, the government also reported two bits of not-so-good news. For starters, the job market was on far worse footing prior to the recent storms than was previously thought. Uncle Sam went back and revised its numbers for August job growth and now believes that only 148,000 jobs were created that month, not 211,000 as was previously reported.
Moreover, only 56,000 new jobs were created in October, not the 75,000 to 100,000 new nonfarm payroll positions that many economists were forecasting. The Labor Department noted that the weaker-than-expected October report is not solely due to the recent hurricane season.
As for the national unemployment rate, it actually came down slightly last month, from 5.1 percent in September to 5 percent, which is still low by historic standards.
Though it's been two months since Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, there are lingering worries whether high oil prices in the wake of those storms are causing employers to delay making new hires. That's a concern for out-of-work Americans.
Those households that currently have jobs have a worry of their own. The government reported this morning that with the 0.5 percent increase in average weekly earnings last month, weekly incomes of nonsupervisory workers have climbed 2.9 percent over the past 12 months. That sounds OK, right?
Not in context. A recent report on inflation shows that consumer prices rose 4.7 percent over that same period of time. In other words, workers' salaries are falling in real terms.
Biz Buzz wraps up the day's market news and offers an agenda of upcoming economic news.
