Richard Tafoya
May 7th, 2007, 11:39 PM
NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/05/business/05jobs-web.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Employers added just 88,000 jobs in April — the smallest number in more than two years, the Labor Department reported today.
In the monthly report on national employment, the job market showed weakness across many industries, from banking and retail to construction and manufacturing. It was a suggestion that after months of holding up well, the labor market was beginning to cool as the economy slowed.
Wages, after rising at a solid clip in the middle of last year, are now growing more slowly than inflation, causing many workers to take an effective pay cut. In April, rank-and-file workers — a group that makes up 80 percent of the labor force — made $17.25 an hour on average, down from about $17.30 in October, in inflation-adjusted terms.
In addition, the report said that job growth in March and February was not as strong as the government first estimated. The Labor Department overcounted those months by a total of 26,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.5 percent from 4.4 percent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/05/business/05jobs-web.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Employers added just 88,000 jobs in April — the smallest number in more than two years, the Labor Department reported today.
In the monthly report on national employment, the job market showed weakness across many industries, from banking and retail to construction and manufacturing. It was a suggestion that after months of holding up well, the labor market was beginning to cool as the economy slowed.
Wages, after rising at a solid clip in the middle of last year, are now growing more slowly than inflation, causing many workers to take an effective pay cut. In April, rank-and-file workers — a group that makes up 80 percent of the labor force — made $17.25 an hour on average, down from about $17.30 in October, in inflation-adjusted terms.
In addition, the report said that job growth in March and February was not as strong as the government first estimated. The Labor Department overcounted those months by a total of 26,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.5 percent from 4.4 percent.