June's employment report is in: Total number of jobs decreased by 121,000 last month, the first decrease since last December, due to the termination of 225,000 temporary census worker jobs. Some 83,000 new jobs were created by the private sector. The overall unemployment rate slid to 9.5 percent, and the all important U-6 measure (above) of the unemployed, folks who aren't looking for jobs, and folks who have lost hours thanks to the economy, slid down almost imperceptibly to 16.5 percent. Most other major indicators held steady.
While it's important not to take data from one month out of the greater context, it is safe to say that the private sector is not yet producing robust employment growth. It does seem to be improving: May's private-sector growth was only 41,000 jobs, and that doubled in the past month, which is a good sign, even if an anemic one. Nonetheless, this is an argument for extending stimulus measures further to ensure a strong recovery.
Recognizing how leery people will be of the top-line number on employment, the Obama administration will today announce 60 new Recovery Act-funded broadband infrastructure projects that will bring high-speed Internet access to places that have never had it before in order to lay the groundwork for future growth.
-- Tim Fernholz
