Earlier this morning, the Labor Department released employment data covering April. Based on the report, the unemployment rate fell 0.1%, to 5.6%; payroll employment grew by 288,000 jobs.
Reported results for the unemployment rate were better than the consensus forecast, which predicted no change. However, results for payroll employment far exceeded the consensus forecast, which was looking for a gain in a range of about 165,000 to 170,000 jobs.
There are two components to each month's employment report, the household survey and the payroll survey. The unemployment rate is derived from the household survey, making it a visible, highly sensitive number for political purposes. The payroll survey represents the number generally more important to the behavior of the financial markets. The report today indicated an increase of 288,000 jobs during April. This compared with a decline of 20,000 in payroll employment during April of 2003.
Today's report included material upward revisions to March and February payroll data, to +337,000 from +308,000, and to +83,000 from +46,000. Thus, including revisions, payroll employment over the last three months increased by a net of 708,000 jobs, compared to the 642,000 gain before the March and February adjustments. (For the same three-month period in 2003, payroll employment contracted by 289,000.)
The following table puts into perspective the reported growth in payroll employment over the trailing three months, versus the comparable period during the prior five years.
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TRAILING THREE-MONTH PAYROLL EMPLOY-
MENT GROWTH (Thousands of Workers)
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Mo. 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999
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Apr. 288 -20 -68 -271 308 382
Mar. 337 -110 43 15 493 124
Feb. 83 -159 -90 104 146 396
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Tot. 708 -289 -115 -152 947 902
=== === === === === ===
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According to today's report, average hourly earnings rose five cents in April, to $15.59. This represented a gain of approximately 0.3% from March's $15.54, which was unrevised from last month's report. Year over year, average hourly earnings were up 2.2%.
The table below contains the latest available results for key employment and inflation series.
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KEY U.S. EMPLOYMENT AND INFLATION DATA
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PAYROLL
UNEMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT AVERAGE HOURLY
RATE CHANGE EARNINGS
(%) (000s) ($s)
--------------- ---------- -----------------
Month Yr. Yr. Yr. Year/
/Year No. Ago No. Ago No. Ago Year
--------------- ---------- ------------------
04/04 5.6 6.0 +288 -20 15.59 15.25 2.2%
03/04 5.7 5.8 +337 -110 15.54 15.27 1.8%
02/04 5.6 5.9 +83 -159 15.52 15.27 1.6%
01/04 5.6 5.8 +159 +94 15.49 15.18 2.0%
12/03 5.7 6.0 +8 -209 15.45 15.18 1.8%
11/03 5.9 5.9 +83 -37 15.46 15.13 2.2%
10/03 6.0 5.7 +88 +83 15.43 15.10 2.2%
09/03 6.1 5.7 +67 -47 15.41 15.05 2.4%
08/03 6.1 5.7 -25 +11 15.41 15.00 2.7%
07/03 6.2 5.8 -45 -111 15.40 14.96 2.9%
06/03 6.3 5.8 -14 +25 15.34 14.93 2.7%
05/03 6.1 5.8 -28 +2 15.31 14.86 3.0%
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EMPLOY. COST INDEX (%)* PRODUCTIVITY (%)#
----------------------- ------------------------
Year Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Yr.
----------------------- ------------------------
2004 1.1 <===========> 3.5 <================>
2003 1.2 0.9 1.0 0.8 3.4 6.2 9.5 2.5 4.4
2002 0.9 1.0 0.8 0.9 9.8 0.7 4.5 2.3 5.0
2001 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 -0.1 3.1 1.6 7.0 2.1
2000 1.2 1.0 0.9 0.9 -1.7 7.5 -0.4 3.3 2.8
1999 0.4 1.1 0.9 1.1 2.7 0.6 3.0 6.5 2.8
1998 0.7 0.8 1.0 0.7 3.0 1.3 3.0 4.0 2.6
1997 0.7 0.8 0.8 1.0 -1.2 4.0 4.2 0.9 1.7
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CONSUMER PRICE INDEX## PRODUCER PRICE INDEX@
-------------------------- ---------------------
Month Yr. Year/ Yr. Year/
/Year Index Ago Year Index Ago Year
-------------------------- --------------------
03/04 187.2 184.0 1.7% 146.6 144.6 1.4%
02/04 186.3 183.2 1.7% 145.8 142.8 2.1%
01/04 185.8 182.2 2.0% 145.7 141.1 3.3%
12/03 184.9 181.6 1.8% 144.8 139.3 3.9%
11/03 184.6 181.4 1.8% 144.5 139.7 3.4%
10/03 184.9 181.2 2.0% 144.7 140.0 3.4%
09/03 185.1 180.9 2.3% 143.8 139.0 3.5%
08/03 184.5 180.6 2.2% 143.5 138.6 3.5%
07/03 183.8 180.1 2.1% 142.8 138.6 3.0%
06/03 183.5 179.7 2.1% 142.7 138.8 2.8%
05/03 183.3 179.5 2.1% 141.9 138.5 2.5%
04/03 183.4 179.4 2.2% 142.5 139.1 2.4%
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NOTE: All data are seasonally adjusted. *Total
civilian compensation, 3-month change. #Nonfarm
business output per hour, annual rates. ##All
urban, all items. @Finished goods.
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