The count of new jobs generated last month -- 75,000 -- was the smallest since October, when hiring practically stalled as companies were jolted by fallout from the Gulf Coast hurricanes. Job gains for March and April turned out to be weaker than previously reported.
[...]The payrolls performance was much weaker than the 170,000 jobs that economists were forecasting would be added in May. They also were predicting the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.7 percent.
Adding to the weakness in the payroll picture: job gains for both March and April were lowered. Employers actually added 126,000 new jobs in April, instead of the 138,000 previously reported. For March, employment grew by 175,000, rather than 200,000.
That's a lot of people without jobs. Of course there are more factors involved in the economy than simply the number of people with jobs. After all, GM makes money by firing people. And then of course, there's how much people are paid.
Workers' average hourly earnings stood at $16.62 in May, a small 0.1 percent increase from April. That was smaller than the 0.3 percent rise economists were expecting and marked a moderation from a sharp pickup in earnings registered in April.
Big oil has made record profits this year, and places like Wal-Mart are still pulling in hundreds of billions of dollars, so of course the overall picture still looks fine. But remember when thinking about this issue, are you concerned with how much money Exxon-Mobil made this year, or how much you made? I think the real picture is reflected in the fact that costs of living keep going up but wages aren't keeping up, and there aren't enough jobs for everyone (and jobs like a part-time worker at Wendy's don't count).
Also, consumer confidence is down in May. Which basically translates into this:
The Dow Jones industrial plummeted 184.18 points, or 1.63 percent, to 11,094.43.
Of course consumer spending is a cornerstone of our economy, so when it goes down, the economy does worse. Not that the answer is for people to spend more, but we do need people to spend money to keep the engine of industry running. Of course, for that they need more money, and I doubt any auto worker is feeling that confident right now about having money in the indefinite future.
So, President Bush, where are all those jobs that were created by your tax cuts?
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