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In reply to the discussion: Nonfarm payroll employment rises by 1.8 million in July; unemployment rate falls to 10.2% [View all]progree
(10,951 posts)24. One surprising thing is they compare a lot of their stats to the February levels
using my browser's search function to search your OP for "February", several key statistics are compared to their February levels (given that the survey week was about the 2nd week of the month of February, was pretty much pre-Covid from an economic standpoint, when, for example the unemployment rate was 3.5%).
For example, to take a few:
In July, the unemployment rate declined by 0.9 percentage point to 10.2 percent, and the number of unemployed persons fell by 1.4 million to 16.3 million. Despite declines over the past 3 months, these measures are up by 6.7 percentage points and 10.6 million, respectively, since February [up of course is bad for both these statistics -Progree].
The employment-population ratio rose by 0.5 percentage point to 55.1 percent but remains lower than in February (61.1 percent)
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.8 million in July, less than the increases of 4.8 million in June and 2.7 million in May. In July, nonfarm employment was lower than its February level by 12.9 million, or 8.4 percent.
The employment-population ratio rose by 0.5 percentage point to 55.1 percent but remains lower than in February (61.1 percent)
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.8 million in July, less than the increases of 4.8 million in June and 2.7 million in May. In July, nonfarm employment was lower than its February level by 12.9 million, or 8.4 percent.
In other words, making clear that while the economic statistics have improved in the past couple of months, they are still far from were they were in February. I would think if the BLS people writing this report were captive Trumpist extremists, they wouldn't be making a negative comparison to 5 months ago.
But maybe I'm just a naive dingle-dork falling for their tricks.
I also notice that the Employment to Population ratio of 55.1 percent is the lowest it's been since the early 60's (excepting the previous few Covid months), when formal female labor force participation was much lower than more recent decades
ETPR (Employment-To-Population Ratio) aka Employment Rate http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000
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Nonfarm payroll employment rises by 1.8 million in July; unemployment rate falls to 10.2% [View all]
mahatmakanejeeves
Aug 2020
OP
Yup, I agree. Today's report is yet another in a series of "horrible but not as horrible as
progree
Aug 2020
#28
Oh, sorry. I was waiting for you, but I didn't see you. Next month....
mahatmakanejeeves
Aug 2020
#4
That's 'cause I was trying to see if WaPo had any more than those initial 2 paragraphs
BumRushDaShow
Aug 2020
#6
16.3 million unemployed but 32.1 million continuing claims for unemployment benefits
progree
Aug 2020
#13
"Will be interesting if the fucking worthless media ever tackles this one."
BumRushDaShow
Aug 2020
#16
The thing is, the BLS 16.3 million is just a household survey where they ask a question about how
progree
Aug 2020
#19
Saving the banks and elites by printing money and buying financial assets
bucolic_frolic
Aug 2020
#10
U.S. adds 1.8 million jobs in July as hiring slows after fresh coronavirus outbreak
UpInArms
Aug 2020
#12
The U-6 rate only includes those who have looked for work in the past 12 months
progree
Aug 2020
#15
One surprising thing is they compare a lot of their stats to the February levels
progree
Aug 2020
#24