Unemployment Rate Making Modest but Consistent Improvements

The unemployment rate improved for the third month in a row, according to the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, announced Friday. The recent recession, which began in 2007, has been the worst since the great depression,’ it peaked at an unemployment rate of 9.9, more than double the 4.4 average before the recession. Now it’s at a solid 8.3, the lowest it’s been since February of 2009.

“For the US economy to have piled on more than 200,000 jobs a month three times in a row will dispel any impression that the improvement is a blip,” said Marcus Bullus, the trading director of MB capital. “The talk will now be of a sustained recovery.”

The numbers are a little mixed: while unemployment is down for whites, at 7.3 percent, it increased for blacks from 13.6 in January to 14.1

Retail has been cutting over 7,000 jobs, but the factory sector has added 31,000 and Temp Services have added 45,000, suggesting that more permanent hiring may be in store for us in the near future.

Some more mixed reporting regards hourly earnings, which are up 1.9 percent from last year, which is not keeping up with inflation.

“We are disappointed yet again that income growth is not picking up in a more meaningful way,” said global economist Dan Greenhaus, but offered a glint of hope saying “more people working suggests over time, people’s incomes should begin to rise.”

If we can sustain this growth for three more years, we will have made a full recovery back to 4.4 per cent.