Friday, October 2, 2009

Non-Farm Payrolls


Today, the Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls decreased by 263,000 in September. As a result, today's chart provides some perspective on the US job market. Note how the number of jobs has steadily increased (top chart) over the long-term. During the last economic recovery, however, job growth was unable to get back up to trend (first time since 1960). More recently, nonfarm payrolls have pulled away from its 50-year trend by a record percentage (bottom chart). In fact, the number of US jobs is currently at level first seen in early 2000.


 
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