Record Low Unemployment

Strong Growth In New Jobs Eases Economy Worries

Wall Street Journal


So first the BLS revised it's job figures a few months ago and found another 800,000 jobs for the past year, then they revised both August and Septembers figures yet higher again. Unemployment in the U.S. is now at a record low and the economy is generating on average 160k jobs per month.

The Labor Department said U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 92,000 in October as gains in service sectors made up for housing-related losses. More importantly, large revisions boosted the estimate of August and September payroll growth by a total of 139,000 jobs, bringing to about 5.8 million the number of jobs created since the current expansion began in late 2001. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.4% -- the lowest level since May 2001 and well below economists' expectations.

"This tells us that the economy is weathering the housing storm quite nicely," said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at consultancy MFR Inc.

Since the BLS can't seem to count and their numbers keep getting reconciled closer to the Household number, maybe we should just use the Household number...........maybe we had 437k jobs in October, we'll see what happens with the next revision...........

The employment report showed the job market strengthening in more ways than one. The household employment survey, a telephone poll of people in their homes, recorded a big gain of 437,000 jobs in October. Economists tend to focus more on the nonfarm payroll report, which is based on a larger sample and thus has less room for error, though recent upward revisions to payroll data have lent some credence to the higher household numbers.

But what about the average worker? Are they getting a piece of the pie? If you listen to the mainstream media you'd think no, but..............................

"Wage growth is now outpacing the rate of inflation, so that's positive for consumer-spending power," said Global Insight's Mr. Gault. "But the question then is what's going to happen on the inflation front."

By MARK WHITEHOUSE, WSJ, November 4, 2006 5:22 p.m.; Page A1

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116256044617612537.html?mod=economy_lead_story_lsc