Employment Higher, but Disappoints

Overall, this has to be labeled a disappointment following this week's ADP payroll release. It is interesting to note that the household survey was much stronger than the ~100k jobs shown in the non-farm payroll survey (and mirrored the ADP figure). Optimists out there can hope that individuals are finding work in areas not covered by the latter survey (though if you believe that, then why did 400k people drop out of the workforce?).

The marginal improvement is seen in the unemployment rate and the unemployed / underemployed rate (still very high figures however and is skewed by those unemployed dropping out of the workforce).



The real (or should I say other) concern is the sluggish rebound in overall labor as defined by hours actually worked. Following a massive collapse, the minor rebound has stalled.

Source: BLS