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America's employment to population ratio fell from 58.4% in July to 58.3% in August. It's the lowest since August 2011.
Workers without jobs for six months fell monthly since spring. It's because they can't find employment and stopped looking. They're leaving the labor market because their jobless benefits expired. If extended ones lapse, about one quarter of unemployed people only will get relief, but for how long who knows.
The newly unemployed who've been seeking work for five weeks or less increased 133,000. It's 5% more than July. Mean and median unemployment duration rose in August. They stand at 39.2 and 18 weeks respectively.
Economist John Williams reengineers economic data based on more reliable decades earlier modeling. Payroll job gains were pathetically few. The broader Household Survey declined by 119,000. July plunged by 195,000.
Real unemployment is 22.8%. Expect worse, not better, ahead.
Private payrolls barely registered half of expectations. Manufacturing dropped for the first time since September 2011. Down 15,000, it was the largest decline since August 2010.
Goods-producing employment is highly cyclical. It leads the rest of the jobs market. Expect service sector declines to follow. Manufacturers created virtually no jobs since April. It's eerily similar to what happened in 2007. Perhaps another inflection point was reached.
Central bank policies and pronouncements so far divorced financial markets from economic reality. August report numbers had practically no redeeming features. The private payroll diffusion index slid from 54.3 to 50.2 month over month. It's the lowest read in 30 months.
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