Friday, August 06, 2010

Mixed U.S. Employment Report

Today's U.S. employment report was somewhat stronger than last month's report, but not really strong in absolute terms.

The household survey was quite weak, showing a job loss of 181,000. This was the third consecutive decline in household survey employment, with a cumulative job loss of 495,000 since April.

There were however some stronger spots in the payroll survey, most notably the increase in the average work week. Average hourly earnings also again increased, though probably not by enough to compensate for the inflation that probably occured.

Overall, the report suggests that growth is still above zero-but not by much.