US adds 165.000 jobs in April, UE rate down to 7.5% (lowest in 5 years)

[Tender Branson]

U.S. Added 165,000 Jobs in April

The United States economy created 165,000 jobs in April, slightly more than forecasters had estimated, pushing the unemployment rate down modestly to 7.5 percent, the government reported Friday.

The manufacturing sector, which is closely watched as a gauge of broader economic strength, was unchanged in April while government employment fell by 11,000. Private sector job creation totaled 176,000.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/business/economy/us-adds-165000-jobs-in-april.html

[BluegrassBlueVote]

Will defer to you since you had the flashier title.

[angus]

The United States economy created 165,000 jobs in April, slightly more than forecasters had estimated, pushing the unemployment rate down modestly to 7.5 percent, the government reported Friday.

That’s the lowest level since December 2008.

It is also worth noting that the unemployment rate fell even though the size of the labor force increased, and even as the government eliminated 11,000 positions.

[Benj]

They also revised up February (to 332,000 gained) and March (to 138,000 gained). In fact, it seems like it's been a really long time since there was a retrospective downward revision--initial figures have uniformly been worse than reality of late. We've been pretty steadily dropping 0.1% in U3 every month, too--if that keeps up, unemployment will be at 5.4% by the 2014 midterms (!!!)--that would be remarkably consistent, and I think an average of an 0.1% drop every two months is more likely (for U3 of 6.4% at the 2014 midterms), but still great news.

[DC Al Fine]

How much of the drop in the UE rate was due to people dropping out of the labour force?

[Benj]

How much of the drop in the UE rate was due to people dropping out of the labour force?

Labour force increased in size in April.

[DC Al Fine]

How much of the drop in the UE rate was due to people dropping out of the labour force?

Labour force increased in size in April.

Excellent

[LastVoter]

Now imagine what the labor force participation rate would be if the government added 100,000 jobs every month since the crisis - as it should.

[Maxwell]

Great!

[Link]

How much of the drop in the UE rate was due to people dropping out of the labour force?

Over half an hour before you posted your wishful right wing pessimism this was posted...

It is also worth noting that the unemployment rate fell even though the size of the labor force increased, and even as the government eliminated 11,000 positions.

[Lief 🗽]

Thanks Obama!

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Truly America is crumbling under Obama's failed socialist policies.

[old timey villain]

It's pretty startling to watch the growing disparity between the US economy and the Eurozone economy. Both aren't great, but the US has consistently added jobs every month for the past several years while the UE rate steadily drops. Meanwhile the Eurozone EU rate just hit a record high of 12.2%. What is America doing that Europe isn't??

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

It's pretty startling to watch the growing disparity between the US economy and the Eurozone economy. Both aren't great, but the US has consistently added jobs every month for the past several years while the UE rate steadily drops. Meanwhile the Eurozone EU rate just hit a record high of 12.2%. What is America doing that Europe isn't??

Employing black people in the highest position.

[Beet]

It's pretty startling to watch the growing disparity between the US economy and the Eurozone economy. Both aren't great, but the US has consistently added jobs every month for the past several years while the UE rate steadily drops. Meanwhile the Eurozone EU rate just hit a record high of 12.2%. What is America doing that Europe isn't??

Have you heard of something called the eurozone crisis?

[King]

March and April were destroyed by the sequester, too.

With the fuel bubble burst, Euro trade set to go up, and the correction of the sequester loss behind us, the summer and fall are going to be a spectacular time to be looking for work.

[Lief 🗽]

It's pretty startling to watch the growing disparity between the US economy and the Eurozone economy. Both aren't great, but the US has consistently added jobs every month for the past several years while the UE rate steadily drops. Meanwhile the Eurozone EU rate just hit a record high of 12.2%. What is America doing that Europe isn't??

Europe is austeritying a lot harder than we are.

[angus]

austeritying

Where's Ernest?  I'm sure he'll be along any minute to defend this usage.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

austeritying

Where's Ernest?  I'm sure he'll be along any minute to defend this usage.

Nah.  It should be 'austeritizing'.  I'm not a total anarchist when it comes to language.

[HoosierPoliticalJunkie]

I don't like all of Obama's economic policies, but I do like the economic improvement.

[Frodo]

Not bad -a drop of ~2.5% in four years.  

Can anyone guess what the unemployment rate will be by January 2016?  

[politicallefty]

It's not a bad number at all and the revisions make it pretty good overall. Discounting the Census jobs in 2010, February had the strongest job growth since 2005. Hopefully, the spring/summer slowdowns over the past couple years have finally stopped.

Not bad -a drop of ~2.5% in four years. 

Can anyone guess what the unemployment rate will be by January 2016?

From what I've read, it'll take 250,000 jobs a month to get down to 6% by then and Februrary-like job growth to get down to 5%.

[Benj]

It's pretty startling to watch the growing disparity between the US economy and the Eurozone economy. Both aren't great, but the US has consistently added jobs every month for the past several years while the UE rate steadily drops. Meanwhile the Eurozone EU rate just hit a record high of 12.2%. What is America doing that Europe isn't??

Less austerity.

Edit: I see I was beaten to it.

Not bad -a drop of ~2.5% in four years.  

Can anyone guess what the unemployment rate will be by January 2016?

From what I've read, it'll take 250,000 jobs a month to get down to 6% by then and Februrary-like job growth to get down to 5%.

Surely an exaggeration. If we continued at the rate of U3 decline since December (which contained a mix of strong and weak numbers), we'd be under 6% by Nov. 2014, let alone 2016. Partially because so many older workers are retiring and leaving the workforce, but that's not a bad thing to the extent it's natural (and the 60-65 age group is the peak of the boomers at the moment, so there should be a lot of new retirees every month).

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Not bad -a drop of ~2.5% in four years.  

Can anyone guess what the unemployment rate will be by January 2016?  

I expect it will be in the 6 to 6.5% range.  The Fed has already signaled that it intends to cut back on stimulus once unemployment reaches 6.5%  I expect 6.5% will likely be reached on mid- to late-2014.  The Fed cutbacks will cause unemployment to hold fairly steady in 2015. January 2016 will be near the end of the plateau, but still in it.

[HoosierPoliticalJunkie]

It's pretty startling to watch the growing disparity between the US economy and the Eurozone economy. Both aren't great, but the US has consistently added jobs every month for the past several years while the UE rate steadily drops. Meanwhile the Eurozone EU rate just hit a record high of 12.2%. What is America doing that Europe isn't??

Less austerity.

Edit: I see I was beaten to it.

Not bad -a drop of ~2.5% in four years.  

Can anyone guess what the unemployment rate will be by January 2016?

From what I've read, it'll take 250,000 jobs a month to get down to 6% by then and Februrary-like job growth to get down to 5%.

Surely an exaggeration. If we continued at the rate of U3 decline since December (which contained a mix of strong and weak numbers), we'd be under 6% by Nov. 2014, let alone 2016. Partially because so many older workers are retiring and leaving the workforce, but that's not a bad thing to the extent it's natural (and the 60-65 age group is the peak of the boomers at the moment, so there should be a lot of new retirees every month).

Yeah, probably an exaggeration.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001?output_view=net_1mth

The unemployment rate's gone down 2.5% since Oct. 2009.  3,667,000 jobs have been added.  That's a rate of ~87,000 per month over 42 months.  Thus, in 33 months (January 2006), the unemployment rate would be about 1.7%-1.8% lower than now, or just below 6%.  Keep in mind, this assumes a continued decline in the overall workforce, largely thanks to the Baby Boomers retiring.