"NOYB" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
news:c3dhc2g=.e3173c7804238f91ecc7925a91375559@108 0916509.nulluser.com...
NOYB wrote:

Businesses Add 308,000 Jobs in March

Friday, April 02, 2004



WASHINGTON - U.S. employment rose last month at the fastest pace in
nearly
four years, easily outstripping expectations, as workers returned
after
a
grocery store strike and construction hiring bounced back on better
weather,
a government report on Friday showed.


Do you even read what gets you excited before you post it?






The latest report from the Labor Department offered comfort to
President
George W. Bush (search) as the jobs market - a hot political issue in
the
U.S. presidential campaign - finally made a decisive break to the
upside.

Non-farm payrolls climbed 308,000 in March, the Labor Department said,
the
biggest gain since April 2000 and well above the 103,000 rise expected
on
Wall Street.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7 percent from the two-year low
of 5.6
percent seen in January and February.


Unemployment rate is up - again.

BLS calls it "no change".





Upward revisions to January and February payrolls helped contribute to
the
positive tone of the report, which could fuel expectations that the
Federal
Reserve may be closer to raising overnight interest rates from their
current
1958 low of 1 percent than had been thought.

The March rise in payrolls reflected the resolution of a labor dispute
at
grocery stores in southern California that had idled 72,000 workers.
The
department said the return of those workers helped fuel a 47,000
increase in
retail employment last month, but it did not quantify the impact.



The rise in payrolls is due mostly to the return of 72,000 strikers?
And you think that is a gain in jobs?

308k-72k=236,000

The rise in payrolls of 236,000 jobs is a pretty significant gain in jobs.
Regardless, when those guys went on strike, it counted *against*
employment
numbers...and the Dems had no problem counting them among the "unemployed"
at that time. Now that they're back to work, you guys say that they
shouldn't count!?!?

The economy has been expanding for over a year...and jobs have been
increasing for 7 straight months. Half a million jobs have been gained
this
year. Spin all you want, but that's terricific economic news.




Kerry downplayed the unemployment rate when it was 5.6% saying that the
number of jobs created was more important.

I will guarantee that we can expect Mr. Waffle to change his tune now and
concentrate on the unemployment rate. Flip-flop.

Even at 5.7% it is still lower than the average rates in the '70's, '80's
and 90's. An most economists don't put much faith in the numbers as they
are now calculated.

from http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/02/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

"While it would seem odd that the unemployment rate rose despite a jump in
payrolls, the two numbers are generated by separate surveys. The
unemployment rate comes from a survey of households, which found that
179,000 people entered the labor force in March, resulting in a higher
unemployment rate.

Still, most economists believe the survey of businesses, which is much
broader, is a more accurate measure of the health of the labor market."