The BLS just released the December Employment Situation Report, which showed a much greater than expected loss of 85,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10% and the closely followed (now) U-6 rate ticked up by .1% to 17.3%.
In good news, November was revised up (as I predicted) to a positive 4,000 jobs.
UpdateVirtually every number in this report was bad on both an unadjusted and adjusted basis. The household survey showed a large loss in unadjusted jobs and the hit to both the participation rate and employment-population ratios were very large (-.3 each). Also, another 800,000 people dropped out of the labor force in December and the total of those who dropped out and still want a job is now at 6.3 million people (out of the 83 million not in the labor force).
Last Update Link to my examination of historical seasonal adjustments and birth/death factor.
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