Year-Over-Year Unadjusted: Monthly Department Of Non-Farms Payroll Report

Here's the scoop on the Labor Department's monthly unemployment report:

• Associated Press Headline And Lead: "January unemployment rate drops to 9.7 percent... The unemployment rate dropped unexpectedly in January to 9.7 percent from 10 percent while employers shed 20,000 jobs."
• Labor Department News Release: click here and here and here.
• Key Numbers: Not Seasonally Adjusted Labor Depart Civilian Non-Institutional Population: 236,832,000 vs 234,739,000 year ago. Not Seasonally Adjusted Employed: 136,809,000 vs 140,436,000. Not Seasonally Adjusted Private Hours Worked Per Week: 33.1 vs 33.2.   
• My Spreadsheet (click Download 20100205yoy).

Here's my uneducated interpretation - This data series shows an uneven change in the genuine employment condition. The employment population ratio continues to fall (the percent of non-institutionalized adjusts employed) and has hit a new low. The hours worked per employed person bumped up some so that the Full Time Employment Population Ratio which assumes that in an ideal world every employed person would get 40 hours of work popped up a bit but is bouncing along at a low level. I calculate the Full Time Employment Population Ratio = (Num Employed / Non-Institutional Adult Population) * (Avg Private Hours Worked Per Week / 40).

 

MontyHigh, www.worldofwallstreet.us