March 7, 2008 1:46PM

Jobs Report Leaves Much to be Desired

By Alexis Glick

Earlier this morning, we had two MAJOR announcements: one from the Federal Reserve Bank saying it’s going to add liquidity to the debt markets by increasing the term auctions, and the second from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on jobs.

The jobs number was a big disappointment, noting that 63,000 jobs were lost in February. The specific statistics are even more depressing. A loss of 52,000 manufacturing jobs, 39,000 construction jobs (a total of 331,000 lost construction jobs since the peak in September 2006), a loss of 34,000 retail jobs, a loss of 28,000 temporary jobs and a loss of 101,000 private sector jobs. Yes, there were government jobs and healthcare jobs – but all in all, it was ugly. The unemployment rate did dip to 4.8%, but that news was not enough to disrupt the recession bears from coming out with bats swinging.

Two interviews that we did on the Opening Bell are embedded below. I urge you to take a look. There’s some wise advice and great points.

On the Fed: David Jones, a former Fed economist and president and CEO of DMJ Advisors, LLC

On Jobs: David Darst, chief investment strategist for Morgan Stanley Global Wealth Management

3 Responses to “Jobs Report Leaves Much to be Desired”

Comment by Big Fat Meanie

March 7th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

Bears swinging bats?! Holy Mixed Metaphors Batman, this is going to be a rough recession…
Comment by Max Ashmead

March 8th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

I am wondering if there really is more to this story than has been realized. It is odd for the labor force to decrease this much; for the overall unemployment rate to go down in these circumstances is not rationally attributable to folks just “giving up” finding employment, given the rate is so low to begin with. I think there may be a new factor to account for a large part of both the number of jobs lost and the decrease in the labor force: the first wave of baby boomers retiring. It seems entirely possible that 30-40,000 of the jobs “lost” were really the bow wave of boomer retirements, not firings or lay-offs. Given the current labor shortages almost everywhere, replacing these older, more experienced people takes a long time. Retirements also effectively reduce the labor force. I know we are seeing this effect where I work.
Comment by James Brewer

March 8th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

Why all the negitive reporting on the economy? the unemployment rate is 4.8% which means that 95 of 100 people are working!!!! (how does that compare with people on welfare?) That is good news by anyones count. Why do we report good news as bad? The jobs market reported a decline in jobs but even if we made more jobs who would work them? We have many positions available in the workplace that need to be filled and less than 5% of the population.

If the media would report things in a positive light then people would not FEAR the bad news that they are being beaten with.