by Calculated Risk on 7/08/2011 10:25:00 AM

The only good news is that June is over.

There were few jobs created in June (only 18,000 total and 57,000 private sector). The unemployment rate increased from 9.1% to 9.2%, and the participation rate declined to 64.1%. Note: This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.

The employment population ratio fell to 58.2%, matching the lowest level during the current employment recession.

U-6, an alternate measure of labor underutilization that includes part time workers and marginally attached workers, increased to 16.2%, the highest level this year.

The BLS revised down April and May payrolls showing 44,000 fewer jobs were created than previously reported.

The average workweek declined slightly to 34.3 hours, and average hourly earnings ticked down. "In June, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 1 cent to $22.99. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.9 percent."

This is the second consecutive month with dismal numbers.

Through the first six months of 2011, the economy has added 757,000 total non-farm jobs or just 126 thousand per month. There have been 945,000 private sector jobs added, or about 158 thousand per month. This is a better pace of payroll job creation than last year, but the economy still has 6.98 million fewer payroll jobs than at the beginning of the 2007 recession.

There are a total of 14.1 million Americans unemployed and 6.3 million have been unemployed for more than 6 months. Very grim numbers.

Overall this was a weak report and reminds us that unemployment and underemployment are critical problems in the U.S.

Percent Job Losses During Recessions

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms - this time aligned at the start of the recession.

In the previous post, the graph showed the job losses aligned at maximum job losses.

In terms of lost payroll jobs, the 2007 recession is by far the worst since WWII.

Part Time for Economic Reasons

From the BLS report:

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged in June at 8.6 million. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

The number of workers only able to find part time jobs (or have had their hours cut for economic reasons) increased slightly to 8.552 million in June.

These workers are included in the alternate measure of labor underutilization (U-6) that increased to 16.2% in June from 15.8% in May. This is the highest level this year (highest since December 2010).

Unemployed over 26 Weeks

This graph shows the number of workers unemployed for 27 weeks or more.

According to the BLS, there are 6.289 million workers who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks and still want a job. This was up from 6.2 million in May. This is very high, and long term unemployment is one of the defining features of this employment recession.

This was a terrible report and the only good news is Q2 is over.

• Earlier Employment post: June Employment Report: 18,000 Jobs, 9.2% Unemployment Rate

by Calculated Risk on 7/08/2011 08:30:00 AM

From the BLS:

Nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged in June (+18,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment in most major private-sector industries changed little over the month. Government employment continued to trend down.
...
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for April was revised from +232,000 to +217,000, and the change for May was revised from +54,000 to +25,000.

The following graph shows the employment population ratio, the participation rate, and the unemployment rate.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

The unemployment rate increased to 9.2% (red line).

The Labor Force Participation Rate declined to 64.1% in June (blue line). This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force. The participation rate is well below the 66% to 67% rate that was normal over the last 20 years, although some of the decline is due to the aging population.

The Employment-Population ratio declined to 58.2% in June (black line).

The second graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms aligned at maximum job losses. The dotted line is ex-Census hiring.

The current employment recession is by far the worst recession since WWII in percentage terms, and 2nd worst in terms of the unemployment rate (only the early '80s recession with a peak of 10.8 percent was worse).

This was very weak and well below expectations for payroll jobs, and the unemployment rate was higher than expected (both worse). A terrible report. I'll have much more soon ...

by Calculated Risk on 7/08/2011 12:22:00 AM

From Reuters: US mall vacancies rise in 2nd quarter, rents flat

Preliminary figures by real estate research firm Reis show the vacancy rate at ... regional malls rose to 9.3 percent ... up from 9.1 percent in the first quarter.

The picture was even bleaker for U.S. strip malls where retailers gave up over half million more square feet than they rented. The vacancy rate at these local retail strips was 11 percent versus 10.9 percent in the first quarter, almost matching the 11.1 percent record set 20 years ago ...

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

As noted in the article, some tenants are still leaving as their leases expire. This is especially grim for strip malls.

To summarize the vacancy reports: Apartment vacancy rates are falling fast, office vacancy rates are moving sideways, and malls are still get crushed.

Earlier on vacancy rates:
• Reis: Office Vacancy Rate flat in Q2 at 17.5 Percent
• Reis: Apartment Vacancy Rate falls to 6% in Q2

by Calculated Risk on 7/07/2011 06:13:00 PM

I haven't been following the debate about using Chained-CPI instead of CPI-W for the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). (ht Andre).

Menzie Chinn at Econbrowser wrote today: Chained CPI

Recent reports ([WSJ RTE] [Bloomberg] [The Hill]) indicate that under consideration as one approach to curtailing entitlement spending growth is to resort to Chained CPI, as opposed to the current official CPI series, which is based on a quasi-Laspeyres formula.

From the BLS: Frequently Asked Questions about the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U)

I haven't been following this, but chained CPI is a relatively new series (started in 2002), and measures inflation at a slightly lower rate than CPI or CPI-W - and over time this would add up both for Social Security payments and also for revenue (tax brackets would increase slower using chained CPI than using currently).

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

The graph shows the year-over-year change in headline CPI, CPI-W, and chained CPI.

There isn't much difference on a year-over-year basis, but notice the blue line is mostly below the other two all the time. Those small differences add up over time as the following table shows.

This table shows the 10 year change in each measure (from May 2001 to May 2011) and the annualized change over that period. If we were using chained CPI instead of CPI-W over the last 10 years, Social Security benefits would be about 3.6% lower than they are now.

	10 Year Increase	Annualized
CPI (headline)	27.2%	2.43%
CPI-W	27.8%	2.49%
CPI (chained)	24.2%	2.19%

by Calculated Risk on 7/07/2011 02:09:00 PM

For a classic hockey stick formation, check on the 2 year yields for Portuguese and Irish bonds (table below). For Portugal, the 2 year yield is up to 17.5%, and for Ireland, the yield is 15.6%.

The yields for Italy and Spain are up too, and of special concern is the sharp increase in the Italian 10 year yield up to 5.2%.

From the ECB this morning: ECB announces change in eligibility of debt instruments issued or guaranteed by the Portuguese government

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to suspend the application of the minimum credit rating threshold in the collateral eligibility requirements for the purposes of the Eurosystem’s credit operations in the case of marketable debt instruments issued or guaranteed by the Portuguese government. This suspension will be maintained until further notice.

The Portuguese government has approved an economic and financial adjustment programme, which has been negotiated with the European Commission, in liaison with the ECB, and the International Monetary Fund. The Governing Council has assessed the programme and considers it to be appropriate. This positive assessment and the strong commitment of the Portuguese government to fully implement the programme are the basis, also from a risk management perspective, for the suspension announced herewith.

The suspension applies to all outstanding and new marketable debt instruments issued or guaranteed by the Portuguese government.

I guess they are tired of the credit agency downgrades.

Here are the links for bond yields for several countries (source: Bloomberg):

Greece	2 Year	5 Year	10 Year
Portugal	2 Year	5 Year	10 Year
Ireland	2 Year	5 Year	10 Year
Spain	2 Year	5 Year	10 Year
Italy	2 Year	5 Year	10 Year
Belgium	2 Year	5 Year	10 Year
France	2 Year	5 Year	10 Year
Germany	2 Year	5 Year	10 Year