Uncle Sam is Holding Up the Employment Data

The Bureau of Labor Statistics just announced unemployment has dropped from 9.9% to 9.7%. Hoorah for less unemployed, right?? Actually, three cheers to Uncle Sam.

Last month total nonfarm payroll employment grew by 431,000 … but 411,000 of those jobs were merely temporary employees to work on Census 2010. Private-sector employment only added 41,000 net jobs.

What does this mean? Given that jobless claims have not significantly improved, we can expect unemployment to continue plaguing the economy as temp hiring for the Census wanes in the coming months.

It’s always nice when our uncle can hook up a job. But resurrecting a healthy economy means we need to find patrons outside the family.

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