U.S. News reports that only 132,000 jobs were created in June. They seem to be taking a positive tone with that weak number. They also provide these "fun facts" about employment reports.
Five Fun Facts: 1) The unemployment rate for college graduates was 2.0 percent vs. 4.1 percent for workers who are just high school grads; 2) Voluntary job leavers jumped by 46,000 to 810,000, perhaps showing more worker confidence; 3) The labor force participation rate edged up to 66.1 percent from 66.0 percent, meaning more people joined or rejoined the working world; 4) Hourly earnings rose 0.3 percent for a year-over-year rate of 3.9 percent; 5) An average of 145,000 net new jobs have been created per month this year vs. 189,000 last year.
It is surprising there is so much excitement over weak job performance. During the Clinton administration job growth averaged 236,000. That's much higher than the continually weak monthly job performance under the Bush administration.
