Job Market Performance

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/02/business/economy/us-added-69000-jobs-in-may-jobless-rate-at-8-2.html?ref=business

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"The greatest enemy to tomorrow's success is sometimes today's success." (John C. Maxwell)

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Today's jobs report is no better than the last two that preceded it. The Labor Department said that the economy gained a net 69,000 jobs in May. The unemployment rate rose to 8.2% (from 8.1% in April) which is certainly not the direction anyone is looking for.

The Labor Department also revised April's gain in jobs, estimated in last month's report at 115,000, down to an increase of 77,000.

There's a general consensus that the economy needs to grow by about 125,000 jobs each month to just maintain the current unemployment rate. Yesterday, the estimate of overall growth for the U.S. for the first three months of 2012 was revised downward to a 1.9% annual rate from 2.2%. A rate of 2.5% GDP growth is the generally accepted equivalent for keeping job growth at 125,000 per month.

The U.S. auto industry has been a bright spot and that's usually a sign of flow thru impact on spending/jobs in the economy. It was reported this morning that Ford's U.S. sales rose 13% in May on strong demand for its F-Series pickups and SUVs. Importantly, Ford says demand for trucks has followed in increase in new home construction since the start of this year.

Let's hope that the rest of the economy starts to look like Ford and the auto industry.