Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2012 02:45 PM PDT In the following video, Porter Stansberry explains the difficulties facing small business owners using an easy to understand example of an Obama "offer" to create a partnership with business owners. Link if video does not play: Why There Are No New Jobs In America Porter says "You'll see why there are no jobs in the U.S." Not quite. Jobs are soaring now because of Obamacare, just not in a way anyone should brag about. Businesses are reducing part-time hours across the board from 30-34 hours to 25 hours or less because Obamacare defines full-time work as 30 hours. Business owners (small and large) are cutting the hours people work so they can avoid penalties for not offering health-care insurance. For details please see Obama Slashes Four Hours Off Definition of "Full-Time" Employment. Today I learned of another company with 2,000+ part-time workers sending out a notice to part-time employees that their hours would be capped at 25. I was asked not to mention the company, so in deference to the worker who told me, I will honor the request. Other examples are easy to find however, just check out the reference to Olive Garden and Red Lobster below. Do the math. Reducing hours from 30 to 25 for 2,000 workers is a net reduction of 10,000 hours. To make that up, the company will have to hire 400 workers, an increase of 20%. This is happening across the board in many industries. 10-20% staff increases in fast food chains, restaurants, grocery stores, etc., is one hell of a lot of jobs and right at election time as well. Did someone figure this out in advance or was it pure luck? Obamacare Employment Recap I have written about this issue three times recently. Here is a recap.
Obamacare is yet another "partnership" offer Porter could have explained, and the distortions as I have shown are quite the thing. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. 
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| Nonfarm Payrolls +171,000, Unemployment Rate 7.9%; Good All Around Numbers Posted: 02 Nov 2012 09:06 AM PDT Initial Reaction and Election Impact The establishment report of +171,000 jobs was above what most expected. Hurricane Sandy had no effect. The BLS finished gathering stats before the hurricane hit. This report will likely be viewed as favorable for the president. On the surface, and in detail, this is the best jobs report in quite a while. Jobs gained were full-time jobs for a change. I do not attribute this report to BLS manipulation. October Jobs Report at a Glance Here is an overview of today's release.
Recall that the unemployment rate varies in accordance with the Household Survey not the reported headline jobs number, and not in accordance with the weekly claims data. Quick Notes About the Unemployment Rate
Over the past several years people have dropped out of the labor force at an astounding, almost unbelievable rate, holding the unemployment rate artificially low. Some of this was due to major revisions last month on account of the 2010 census finally factored in. However, most of it is simply economic weakness. October 2012 Jobs Report Please consider the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) September 2012 Employment Report. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 171,000 in October, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 7.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in professional and business services, health care, and retail trade. Click on Any Chart in this Report to See a Sharper Image Unemployment Rate - Seasonally Adjusted  Nonfarm Employment - Payroll Survey - Annual Look - Seasonally Adjusted  Employment is above the total just prior to the 2001 recession, and about where it was in mid-2005. Nonfarm Employment - Payroll Survey Monthly Changes - Seasonally Adjusted  click on any chart for sharper image Between January 2008 and February 2010, the U.S. economy lost 8.8 million jobs. Since the employment low in February 2010, nonfarm payrolls have expanded by about 5.0 million jobs. Of the 8.8 million jobs lost between January 2008 and February 2010, approximately 57% percent have been recovered (not accounting for normal demographics growth) Statistically, 125,000+- jobs a month is enough to keep the unemployment rate flat. For a discussion, please see Question on Jobs: How Many Does It Take to Keep Up With Demographics? Since the beginning of the year, job growth has averaged 155,000 per month, compared with an average monthly gain of 175,000 in 2011. Current Report Jobs  Average Weekly Hours  Index of Aggregate Weekly Hours  The index of aggregate hours paints a good picture of the stall in the recovery. Employment is up, but hours are not up proportionally. This reflects the trend to part-time workers and the reduction of hours in part-time workers. Average Hourly Earnings vs. CPI  Average hourly earnings has been falling for years and lagging CPI inflation since September 2009. Simply put real wages have been declining. Add in increases in state taxes and the average Joe has been hammered pretty badly. For further discussion, please see What's "Really" Behind Gross Inequalities In Income Distribution? BLS Birth-Death Model Black Box The BLS Birth/Death Model is an estimation by the BLS as to how many jobs the economy created that were not picked up in the payroll survey. The Birth-Death numbers are not seasonally adjusted, while the reported headline number is. In the black box the BLS combines the two, coming up with a total. The Birth Death number influences the overall totals, but the math is not as simple as it appears. Moreover, the effect is nowhere near as big as it might logically appear at first glance. Do not add or subtract the Birth-Death numbers from the reported headline totals. It does not work that way. Birth/Death assumptions are supposedly made according to estimates of where the BLS thinks we are in the economic cycle. Theory is one thing. Practice is clearly another as noted by numerous recent revisions. Birth Death Model Adjustments For 2011  Birth Death Model Adjustments For 2012  Birth-Death Notes Once again: Do NOT subtract the Birth-Death number from the reported headline number. That approach is statistically invalid. Note the historically rare occurrence this month of a negative non-January adjustment. In general, analysts attribute much more to birth-death numbers than they should. Except at economic turns, BLS Birth/Death errors are reasonably small. For a discussion of how little birth-death numbers affect actual monthly reporting, please see BLS Birth/Death Model Yet Again. Household Survey Data  click on chart for sharper image In the last year, the civilian population rose by 3,714,000. Yet the labor force only rose by 1,584,000. Those not in the labor force rose by 2,128,000 to 88,341,000. That is an amazing "achievement" to say the least, and as noted above most of this is due to economic weakness not census changes. Decline in Labor Force Factors
Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force, the unemployment rate would be well over 10%. Part Time Status  click on chart for sharper image There are 8,344,000 workers who are working part-time but want full-time work. This is a volatile series. This month's decline of 269,000 follows last month's jump of 582,000. BLS Alternate Measures of Unemployment  click on chart for sharper image Table A-15 is where one can find a better approximation of what the unemployment rate really is. Notice I said "better" approximation not to be confused with "good" approximation. The official unemployment rate is 7.9%. However, if you start counting all the people that want a job but gave up, all the people with part-time jobs that want a full-time job, all the people who dropped off the unemployment rolls because their unemployment benefits ran out, etc., you get a closer picture of what the unemployment rate is. That number is in the last row labeled U-6. U-6 is much higher at 14.6%. Both numbers would be way higher still, were it not for millions dropping out of the labor force over the past few years. Duration of Unemployment  Long-term unemployment remains in a disaster zone with 40% of the unemployed in the 27 weeks or longer category. Median duration of unemplyment has been rising for 3 months while the average has been hovering right around 40 week for a year. Grossly Distorted Statistics Given the complete distortions of reality with respect to not counting people who allegedly dropped out of the work force, it is easy to misrepresent the headline numbers. Digging under the surface, the drop in the unemployment rate over the past two years is nothing but a statistical mirage. Things are much worse than the reported numbers indicate. Finally, before anyone gets too excited about this jobs report, note that it is just one month, and it may be revised away. Even if not, take another look at the index of aggregate hours and average wages vs. CPI because those charts reflect very important stories not at all seen in the headline numbers. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com "Wine Country" Economic Conference Hosted By Mish Click on Image to Learn More  Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. 
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