Every month, the BLS reports the facts on employment in the US. The monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics employment situation report (EMPSIT) is the single most important publicly available information on the US economy. The report is commonly called “the jobs report.” The second most important report is corporate profits. (quarterly).
The Employment report is divided into two sections: CPS and business survey. The CPS employment numbers come from a rolling sample of about 60,000 surveys that ask individual households about their current employment conditions. The business survey reports employment numbers from businesses and delivers the non-farm payroll numbers.
You are looking for any change in a short- or long-term statistic that might signal trouble or success.
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The POP Quiz
1. Top line numbers
What was the overall unemployment number (U-3)?
What was the number of new jobs created?
What industries created the most jobs?
What was the U-6 rate?
What was the size of the labor force?
What was the participation rate?
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What are your conclusions about the top-line job number? Did anything important change?
2. Black unemployment
The Black unemployment rate often signals larger changes in the economy.
What was the Black unemployment rate? What was the breakdown? Male, Female, teenage?
What was the national White rate? Hispanic rate? Female rate.
Check participation rates and employed versus total population numbers
3. Non-farm payroll (NFP) numbers
Top line number. How many new jobs were created?
Sector numbers. What sectors added jobs and what sectors lost jobs?
4. Check year-over-year wage growth and hours worked.
5. Analysis section
What was the biggest headline in your opinion?
What changes did you spot over time?
Historically, the Black / White unemployment ratio has been 2:1. Compute the Black / White unemployment ratio.
The national participation rate has been dropping among Blacks and Whites. Does it continue ?