This morning saw the release of figures showing an increase in private sector employment in May of 55,000. While it is certainly positive that there was job growth rather than a decline in the numbers, a gain of 55,000 jobs is not enough to keep unemployment from rising.
Another figure also released today showed that productivity gains in the economy were substantially less than expected. This is a more ominous sign for employment numbers than a one-month job growth figure. When the economy is coming out of a recession there should be great gains in productivity as production ramps up before employment does. More production from the same number of workers means productivity growth. The fact that productivity is not soaring as expected means that production is not growing as it should. In other words, there is a slow menadering sort of recovery. That is the type of recovery that will not lead to job growth sufficient to lower the unemployment rate in a meaningful way. Indeed, if the Democrats were hoping for a miracle where the unemployment rate drops dramatically prior to November's elections, today's productivity news pretty much means that short of the government lying about the numbers, there will not be much help for the Dems on that front.
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