What gives, unemployment rate down, job loss up, factories hire?

The unemployment rate is what is holding down the US economic recovery. Despite the fact that the unemployment rate fell from 9.7 percent in May to 9.5 percent in June, more jobs were cut than were created. Jobless Americans dropping out of the labor force in droves skewed the stats in the jobs report. The stock market rose slightly on Friday morning. But soon after a decline in factory orders was reported around 10 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 32.5 points. The US economy has a lot of conflicting data. Even as job creation, factory orders and consumer confidence fell, some manufacturing companies that want to hire can discover workers with the kind of skills they need.

Article source: Unemployment rate down, job loss up, factories hire, what gives by Personal Money Store

Consumer confidence and unemployment rate goes with anything else

The whole economy is affected by the unemployment rate. An uncertain employment picture wreaks havoc on consumer confidence, which went down a lot in June. The decline in consumer confidence led to a decline in auto sales, and pushed pending home sales off a cliff as tax credits for home buyers expired very quickly. Consumer spending makes up 70 percent of the U.S. economy, and disposable income is a distant memory for millions of jobless workers.

The unemployment rate and why it went down:

The unemployment rate reached its lowest point since July 2009. But as outlined by the Wall Street Journal, the decline wasn’t due to improvement within the labor market. A loss of 125,000 jobs should have increased June's unemployment rate. But 652,000 individuals gave up looking for a job -- the sharpest one-month decline in 15 years in the Labor Department’s survey. Some may be choosing other options like school. Some are reaching the end of their unemployment benefits, which require an active job search. Whatever the reason, over the past two months almost 1 million people stopped looking for work.

For unemployed workers, new jobs mismatch

The unemployment rate remains stubbornly high because plenty of individuals are nevertheless applying for the jobs. According to the New York Times, the problem is a mismatch between the kind of skilled workers needed and also the ranks of the unemployed. During the recession, domestic manufacturers accelerated the long-term move toward more automation, laying off their lowest-skilled workers and replacing them with cheaper labor abroad. Now these companies need to hire individuals who can operate sophisticated computerized machinery, follow complex blueprints and demonstrate higher math skills than old-school assembly line workers.

The jobs report with a silver lining?

One must dig deep to find some positives about the latest jobs report. The Washington Post reports that Friday's jobs report could mean that the economic recovery that began last year has lost momentum, but the numbers aren't so bad as to suggest the nation is heading into a double-dip recession. The numbers show the US economy falling. The job growth number is a decline from stronger levels in March and April, but the June job creation number of a mere 83,000 is better than any month out of the past 31, other than the last two.

Discover more about this topic here:

New York Times

nytimes.com/2010/07/02/business/economy/02manufacturing.html?_r=1&ref=us

Wall Street Journal

blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/07/02/why-did-the-unemployment-rate-drop-2/

Washington Post

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/02/AR2010070202004.html?hpid=topnews