This morning the BLS reported an increase of 290,000 jobs. Headline unemployment rose to 9.9%. Hidden beneath the surface the BLS Black Box - Birth Death Model added 188,000 jobs. However, as I have pointed out many times before, the Birth/Death numbers cannot be subtracted straight up to get a raw number. It contributed to this months employment total for sure, but the BLS will not disclose by how much.



This month there were 66,000 temporary census workers added to the payrolls. That number can directly be subtracted. Interestingly, the details show only 59,000 government jobs in total were added. That means, states have cut back 73,000 jobs. Expect this trend to continue.



Next month is the big census hiring effect where as many as 500,000 temporary workers will be hired. In June through August they will all be fired but that will not stop economists and the administration from crowing about the numbers.



On the whole, this was a decent jobs report, but the birth/death number is quite problematic. I do not buy it. Moreover, the BLS report does not remotely jibe with the ADP April 2010 National Employment Report estimate of 32,000. Someone is wildly off, and I expect that to be the BLS, not ADP.



Those expecting the unemployment rate to drop given the headline number were in for a surprise. However, we were not surprised having talked about this before. The participation rate had been falling like a rock, and if people think there may be jobs, they start looking for them.



That means people who were not counted as unemployed, now are. Expect this to go on for a long time, and expect the unemployment rate to be stubbornly high.



By the way, I still do not think the top in the unemployment rate is in and expect it may rise substantially June through August, and keep rising at a modest pace thereafter for most of the rest of the year. Time will tell.



April 2010 Report



Please consider the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) April 2010 Employment Report.



Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 290,000 in April, the unemployment rate edged up to 9.9 percent, and the labor force increased sharply, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in manufacturing, professional and business services, health care, and leisure and hospitality. Federal government employment also rose, reflecting continued hiring

of temporary workers for Census 2010..



Unemployment Rate - Seasonally Adjusted







Nonfarm Payroll Employment - Seasonally Adjusted







Since September 2009, temporary help services employment has risen by 313,000.



Establishment Data







click on chart for sharper image



Highlights





290,000 jobs were added

14,000 construction jobs were added

44,000 manufacturing jobs were added



166,000 service providing jobs were added

12,000 retail trade jobs were added



80,000 professional and business services jobs were added

35,000 education and health services jobs were added

45,000 leisure and hospitality jobs were added



59,000 government jobs were added

Index of Aggregate Weekly Hours

Birth Death Model Revisions 2009





Birth Death Model Revisions 2010

Birth/Death Model Revisions

BLS Black Box

Household Data

In April, the number of unemployed persons was 15.3 million, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.9 percent. The rate had been 9.7 percent for the first 3 months of this year.



The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) continued to trend up over the month, reaching 6.7 million. In April, 45.9 percent of unemployed persons had been jobless for 27

weeks or more. (



Among the unemployed, the number of reentrants to the labor force rose by 195,000 over the month.



In April, the civilian labor force participation rate increased by 0.3 percentage point to 65.2 percent, as the size of the labor force rose by 805,000. Since December, the participation rate has increased by 0.6 percentage point. The employment-population ratio rose to 58.8 percent over the month and has increased by 0.6 percentage point since December.



The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was about unchanged at 9.2 million in April. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.



[Mish Note: In January the number was 8.3 million]



Persons Not in the Labor Force



About 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in April, compared with 2.1 million a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding

the survey.

Table A-8 Part Time Status

The key take-away is

there are 9,152,00 of workers whose hours may rise before those companies start hiring more workers.

Table A-15

Grim Statistics