Not a whole lot to get excited about here. The private sector is sluggishly adding jobs, but nowhere near fast enough to bring down the unemployment rate. The market is responding fairly well to the news, however (via Econoday):
The private sector is doing its best to offset weakness in the government sector. But Census layoffs and state and local government cut backs have been more than offsetting. Payroll employment in September declined 95,000, following a revised 57,000 dip in August and a 66,000 decrease in July. The September fall was significantly more negative than the median forecast for an 8,000 decrease. The July and August revisions were net down a slight 15,000.
The Census Bureau layoffs of temporary workers continued to damp overall jobs. Government payrolls declined 159,000 after decreasing 150,000 in August. A decline in federal government employment was due to the loss of 77,000 temporary Census 2010 jobs. As of September, about 6,000 temporary decennial census workers remained on the federal government payroll, down from a peak of 564,000 in May. Employment in local government decreased by 76,000 in September with job losses in both education and non-education.
But on the positive side, private nonfarm employment continued to rise, advancing 64,000 in September, following a revised increase of 93,000 the prior month. The median market forecast was for an 85,000 boost for private payrolls.
Private service-providing jobs gained 86,000 after an 83,000 increase in August. The rise was led by a 38,000 boost in leisure & hospitality jobs. Other increases were scattered by category. Temp help services advanced another 17,000 after gaining 18,000 in August. This category typically is a leading indicator for permanent job hires or layoffs but companies are still more skittish than usual about adding permanent positions.
Goods-producing jobs fell 22,000 after a 10,000 increase in August. Manufacturing slipped 6,000 while construction jobs dropped 21,000. Mining rose 6,000.
Average hourly earnings were unchanged in September after rising 0.3 percent in August. The September figure fell short of the market estimate for a 0.1 percent gain. The average workweek for all workers was steady at 34.2 hours in September, matching expectations.
On a year-ago basis, overall payroll jobs improved up to 0.3 percent in September from up 0.2 percent the month before.
Source: Econoday
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.
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