(Originally posted on May 7, 2010) - On May 7, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the unemployment data for April. The jobless rate rose to 9.9%, up from 9.7% in March. The ironic part is that 290,000 jobs were created – the largest increase in four years. In March, 230,000 (revised) jobs were created. In April, 15.3 million people were unemployed. What’s going on with the unemployment situation in America and will the rate continue to increase? Keep reading for an explanation!
In March, 48,000 jobs were added to the economy as a result of the U.S. Census Bureau. In April, another 66,000 Census jobs were created. These are temporary jobs and those hired for the Census will be laid off in June or July, which could cause the unemployment rate to dramatically increase during that time. The manufacturing sector created 44,000 jobs in April and 45,000 jobs were created in the leisure and hospitality industry.
Even though we created 290,000 jobs in April, the main reason for the rise in the unemployment rate was due to a huge increase in the number of people who reentered the work force – some 195,000 people.
I think today’s report revealed good news with regard to the number of jobs created. In the coming months however, we’ll find out if those 195,000 people who reentered the work force, found jobs. If most of those people find full time, quality jobs, then the unemployment situation should improve. However, what concerns me is that 6.7 million people, according to the data from April, were unemployed for at least 27 weeks. That is a long time to be unemployed, which is why an emergency savings fund is critical!
With regard to Census jobs, these are good jobs that provide valuable income for thousands of people. But in order to sustain real economic growth, we need to create jobs in the private sector – which thankfully 231,000 private sector jobs were created in April.
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