WASHINGTON, April 6, 2007
Employers Adding To Payrolls And Paychecks
Surprisingly Good Report Finds Jobless Rate At Five-Month Low; Wages Were Up, Too
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(AP / CBS)
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"The Labor Department report was a bit of a surprise — the unemployment rate came down, to 4.4 percent and total number of people added to payrolls went up," Peter Sperling, professor of finance and economy at Touro College, told CBS News' Phyllis McQuillan.
The new snapshot, released by the Labor Department on Friday, also showed that companies boosted their payrolls by a strong 180,000 in March, the most since December. Workers also saw their paychecks get bigger. The fresh figures suggested that companies are not feeling a need to dramatically clamp down on hiring in the face of the slower overall economic activity and the deep housing slump.
"There's been worry that housing troubles would seep into the rest of the economy and hurt jobs but that is not happening now," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services. "This says employers are finding that they need people and when they need people they hire them. These are good, healthy numbers," he said.
"The economy may have slowed a bit in the last three to six months, but employers are still hiring people at a pretty nice rate and there is no sign the economy is starting to tail off," agreed Sperling.
The report was stronger than economists were expecting. They were calling for the economy to add around 135,000 new jobs in March, and for the unemployment rate to actually edge up to 4.6 percent.
The 4.4 percent unemployment rate, which dropped down a notch from 4.5 percent in February, matched the rate in October.
Jobs gains in March were fairly widespread, except for the struggling manufacturing sector, which continued to shed jobs for the ninth month in a row; factories cut 16,000 in March alone. Some business services also trimmed jobs, by 7,000 last month.
Construction companies, after suffering heavy job losses in February in part due to lousy winter weather, bulked up in March. They added 56,000 positions last month, the most in just over a year. Retailers added nearly 36,000 jobs last month. Education and health care services expanded employment by 54,000. Leisure and hospitality picked up 21,000 new jobs, while the government added 23,000.
Adding to the positive showing, job gains in January and February turned out to be stronger than previously reported. The economy added 113,000 positions in February, up from a prior estimate of just 97,000, which had marked the slowest job growth in two years. In January 162,000 new jobs were created, better than the 146,000 previously reported.
Workers' wages grew modestly.
Average hourly earnings rose to $17.22 in March, a 0.3 percent increase from February. That matched economists' expectations. Over the last 12 months, wages grew by 4 percent.
Solid wage growth is good for workers and supports consumer spending, which is indispensable to the economy's good health. But a rapid pickup — if prolonged and not blunted by other economic forces — can raise fears about inflation.
Spiraling inflation would whittle away any wage gains, hurting workers' wallets. It isn't good for the economy, either.
"The most interesting thing about the job report is that it suggests that the Federal Reserve System is unlikely to lower interest rates anytime in the near term," said Sperling.
One of the things the Federal Reserve is keeping close tabs on is inflation. Another is business investment, which has been weak. Those economic crosscurrents complicate the Fed's job of keeping the economy and inflation on an even keel.
The Fed's key interest rate hasn't moved since August. Before that, the Fed was steadily raising rates for two years to fend off inflation.
The new figures comes as President Bush continues to cope with a lackluster job-approval rating of 35 percent from the American public, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll. On the economy, the just 38 percent approve of the president's economic stewardship, while 60 percent disapprove, the poll shows.
Tapping into that discontent, Democrats are championing policies to close the gap between low- and high-income workers, make it easier for workers to form unions against company wishes and taking a harder stance with respect to the Bush administration's free-trade deals.
Beyond March's employment report, there were some challenges for jobseekers, however. For one thing, the job hunt got longer.
The average time that the 6.7 million unemployed people spent in their job searches was 17.3 weeks in March, compared with 16.4 weeks in February.
Economists predict the economy will remain in a sluggish spell in the months ahead. For the recently ended January-to-March quarter, some analysts are predicting growth will clock in at close to 2 percent, which would represent a further slowing from the 2.5 percent growth rate logged in the final three months of last year.
As the economy slows, the unemployment rate also is expected to creep up, reaching close to 5 percent by the end of the year.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believes the economy is working its way through a soft patch and won't fall into a recession this year. However, former Fed chief Alan Greenspan has put the odds of the economy sliding into a recession this year at one-in-three.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Posted by processor2 at
Well said!
to see how the regular posting NeoCommies such as dallison7, MCVet, randalDS, jwhitman, veteran71, jh6379, grumpas,etc will spin this to find a dark lining in this silver cloud
...
I BET THIS IS CENSORED FROM TONIGHTS NEWS WITH KATIE.......or if it is mentioned we Americans will here a big BUT.....then comes the doom and gloom from our corrupt liberal CBS crew.......really sad......
180,000 Americans lost their jobs in April.........NOW THAT'S A CBS "TOP STORY".... it is really sad isn't it?????
The average time that the 6.7 million unemployed people spent in their job searches was 17.3 weeks in March, compared with 16.4 weeks in February.
Think about that from a personal standpoint for a minute. How many of us can afford to be out of work 4 MONTHS or more looking for work? What shape financially do you think you would be in after NOT working that long.
What this really means is, we have motivated, trained people who want to work, languishing in unemployment for months at a time, before they can find it.
The numbers just don't add up. They are artificially low because of the number of people who have just plain given up. Or, whose unemployment benefits have ran out and are no longer counted. Or have moved back in with their parents because their house got foreclosed.
Think of the number of people that you personally know that are looking for work right now, or have suffered recent job loss and had to move a few rungs down the ladder just to survive. Or, both spouses work at least one job, and still struggle.
Again, these numbers are ***. They are &^%*$#@!.
Unemployment is 10% in this country at least. Worse in some sectors. And the under employed rate is probably much, much higher.
Can we PLEASE have a government that really gives a &^%* about the American People and the Middle Class, just in general?
to see how the regular posting NeoCommies such as dallison7, MCVet, randalDS, jwhitman, veteran71, jh6379, grumpas,etc will spin this to find a dark lining in this silver cloud
...
Today, the cost of entitlements has skyrocketed and yes the war in Iraq hasn't helped. But...this time the Republican congress couldn't control the spending and now that the Dem's are in control of congress again it appear's to be business as usual with them...tax and spend.
What we need is term limits...but the corruption on both sides of the aisle won't give us term limits.
tax and spend
Posted by edjohn66 at 12:08 PM : Apr 06, 2007
.....edjohn66, where's the minimum wage bill that your pals the liberal Dems promised poor Americans before the 2006 elections??? you know the same minimum wage bill that the dirty Dems voted against in September 2006 during GOP control of Congress.........IS THERE any issues that the Dems won't politicize?????? ANY???
Go ahead and argue about how great trickle-down tax cuts are and how W. is making your life better. Those of us in the real world know different.
Over time I have noticed that if the numbers are bad the whole report is doom and gloom. If the numbers are good 3/4 of the report is doom and gloom.
to see how the regular posting NeoCommies such as dallison7, MCVet, randalDS, jwhitman, veteran71, jh6379, grumpas,etc will spin this to find a dark lining in this silver cloud
...
- by perception5 April 6, 2007 1:07 PM EDT
- And it's just like CBS (Censoring Broadcasting Station) to hide this story with a big "down arror". The last time the unemployment rate went "up" CBS had it as their top story at the top of their website........ just another day in America with our absolutely corrupt liberal MSM wolfpack ......calling all the shots on what "they" want Americans to see and read.....really sad indeed!
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