Good jobs news


This was very good news. I'm claiming that my guess in the 40,000 range was an April Fools joke, or that I dropped the "3" in front of the 40,000. Whatever, it's good. One point does not a trend make, but every trend starts with one point. I just hope that this is the start of an upward trend.

Employment Situation Summary:

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 308,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was about unchanged at 5.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Payroll job growth was fairly widespread, as construction employment rose sharply and several major service-providing industries also added jobs.



One troubling thing is the suspected early release of data. Washington Post has an article (Early Trades Make Some Suspect Tip) saying that the bond markets started going nuts at 8:28, 2 minutes before the official release. Two minutes isn't a long time, but these are market moving numbers, and nobody should be profiting from early release. Also read their article on Friday about how close the Bureau of Labor Statistics keept this data before its release (What's in a Verb? A Great Deal at BLS).

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