Dollars and Jens
Friday, December 05, 2003
Latest Numbers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 5.9% unemployment (6.0% was expected) for November, but only 57,000 new non-farm jobs (talk was of 150,000). The October non-farm payrolls number was revised up from 126k to 137k. Hourly earnings are up .1%, against a consensus estimate of .2%.
The unemployment number is based on a survey of the labor force, and the payrolls number is from a survey of employers -- I assume that's why they aren't lining up, though it's also theoretically possible that the size of the labor force declined. Over the last couple of years, the difference between the number of people who report being employed and the number of employees reported by employers has increased by a couple million or so.
The bond market appears to be (understandably) focusing on the non-farm payroll number, with yields on the two-year bond falling from 2.0% to below 1.9% on the news.
