Economists were expecting a relatively weak month for job growth in April, but today’s payrolls report from the Labor Department managed to disappoint the crowd even by the downsized standards of late. Employment in the private sector rose by a thin 130,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, down from March’s modest 166,000 gain. April’s increase was the lowest since last August. The unemployment rate, surprisingly, managed to slip a bit to 8.1%, but that’s irrelevant given today’s meager gain in the working population.
Daily Archives: May 4, 2012
Strategic Briefing | 5.4.12 | Gov’t Spending & The Economy
What stimulus? Government is holding us back
Rex Nutting (MarketWatch) | May 4
Everyone’s worried that the economy may go over a “fiscal cliff” next year, but they’re missing something essential: We’ve been falling down a “fiscal hill” for two years already. After giving the economy a huge boost in 2009 and 2010, fiscal policy has become contractionary. Now that the private sector is on the mend, the lack of government spending is the biggest factor holding back the economy. And it could get worse.