Unemployment rate thought to do better, but does worse

The latest jobs report detailing the U.S. unemployment rate for July reflects the ongoing battle between the bad news and also the good news. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.5 percent. But the U.S. economy had more job loss than economists expected. The U.S. economy added 71,000 jobs in July, but lost 131,000. 36,000 jobs were added by manufacturing although that was the lowest addition this year. More money was made by individuals working more hours which increased probability. Hiring has stopped because productivity is doing this well.

Unemployment rate won’t move either way

More workers were added to companies in July. However, The Wall Street Journal reports that taking into account revisions to prior months this year, the U.S. economy added an average of less than 100,000 jobs a month within the first seven months, a level that’s not strong enough to offset the job loss that would bring unemployment down. June reports showed a downward pull. 125,000 more than reported before, jobs went down 221,000 that month. In June, there were, in the private sector, only 31,000 jobs added. The Dow Jones Newswires were expecting a 60,000 job loss in July, which really ended up being 131,000.

Everybody employed is glad

The July jobs reports had a couple of spots that weren’t too bad. Daily Finance reports the average workweek increased by 0.1 hours to 34.2 hours. Hourly earnings are up to $ 22.59 per hour, which is a 4 cent increase. The last 12 months has a 3 percent increase in productivity when within the first quarter of 2010, the increase was 4 percent. Productivity being up means companies are doing better with their earnings. Money sitting around is fairly normal right about now for companies. Companies do not want to hire anymore because their productivity and efficiency already has gone up enough to boost stock prices.

Reserve trying to figure out how to fix unemployment problem

The Federal Reserve will make their next move based off the jobs reports. Reserve deposit rates might drop passed the 0.25 percent rate as a possible solution, reports Bloomberg in an interview with Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. An additional choice can be to help hold down borrowing costs by getting more assets although the Fed already has a $ 2.3 trillion balance sheet.

Americans frustrated with unemployment rate

Meanwhile, much like the good news/bad news in the jobs report, the conflicting opinions of the public cancel each other out. More than seven in 10 Americans say the U.S. economy is still mired in recession, according to a Bloomberg National Poll. Seven out of ten people also answered the government should be working on unemployment before anything else. You will find at least half of the individuals that answered believing the stimulus program won’t work with all the additional spending going on.

Discover more information on this subject

Wall Street Journal

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703309704575412990024153682.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Daily Finance

dailyfinance.com/story/careers/july-jobs-report-unemployment-remains-high/19583596/

Bloomberg

bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-06/company-payrolls-rose-by-71-000-in-july-u-s-jobless-rate-9-5-.html