Sense on Cents

The Unemployment report released this past Friday would seem to have some good news for everybody:
1. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 8.9% and economists project it to head even lower.
2. Non-farm payrolls increased by 192k jobs with the private sector adding over 220k jobs while state and local employment lost approximately 30k jobs.
3. Last month’s report was revised to show even greater job growth.

All good and we can start thinking of March Madness on the college hoop circuit, right? Well, not so quick. What is the fly in the ointment? Despite the perceived improved job situation, the overall number of unemployed has barely budged off the bottom of the barrel. How does that work? The fact that so many of our fellow brethren whom have given up looking for work altogether remain out of the labor pool completely and thus are not counted in the unemployment rate. If they reenter the labor pool, the overall rate of unemployment could very quickly move higher. (more…)