Nonfarm employment increased by 146,000 in June, and the unemployment rate continued to trend down, reaching 5.0 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the month, payroll employment continued to grow in several industries, notably professional and business services and health care.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
On the surface, a 5.0 percent unemployment number looks very good.
But if we look at the Birth/Death Statistics, we find that 184,000 jobs were added because of hedonics.
And then if we look at Alternative measures of labor underutilization, which measures Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers, we find that June's figure stands at 9%. I learned of this interesting statistic from Barry L. Ritholtz.
And finally, a great graphic to help put this all in perspective is Unemployment rates by county June 2004 - May 2005 averages. The graphic is too large for my blog, but I encourage you to view the "unemployment heat map." What I find interesting is that the coastal regions often have the higher unemployment rates but they also have the higher housing price appreciation rates.
Is the 5.0 percent unemployment figure real or specious?
Update: There have been plenty of articles this weekend concerning the latest job statistics--for example, The New York Times Boom in Jobs, Not Just Houses, as Real Estate Drives Economy (free registration required). When you view the article, look at the graphic Real Estate Bright Spots and then compare and contrast that graphic with Unemployment rates by county June 2004 - May 2005 averages graphic earlier in this post.
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