Job Report Falls Short of Forecasts: 56,000 jobs added in October

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

November 5, 2005
latimes.com : Business
Job Report Falls Short of Forecasts
The U.S. economy adds a disappointing 56,000 jobs in October. The hurricanes' effect on energy prices may have suppressed hiring.

By Bill Sing, Times Staff Writer

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-jobs5nov05,0,6899583.story?coll=la-home-business

The nation's job market rebounded last month from hurricane-related losses, although the payroll gain was far below expectations as high energy prices may have damped hiring in regions not directly hit by the storms, the government reported Friday.

U.S. employers added a net 56,000 jobs in October, the Labor Department said. That fell well short of the 100,000-job gain predicted by economists and the 196,000 average monthly increase from January to August.

Adding to the disappointment, a Labor Department official said the subpar data could not all be blamed on the damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast.

"Job growth in the remainder of the country appeared to be below trend in October," said Kathleen Utgoff, commissioner of the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. She pointed to the nationwide effect of the hurricanes on energy prices.

The latest report renewed concerns about whether high energy prices — coming on top of steep benefit costs and intense global competition — were eroding employers' willingness to hire aggressively even in an economy growing at an above-average pace. A subpar job market could in turn curb consumer spending during the crucial upcoming holiday shopping season.

[yella_dawg]

1. Yesterday on NPR

A discussion of this story included the term "wage jobs" as a subset of the job numbers. An obvious second category would be "non-wage jobs". I'm glad to see analysts finally addressing the truth behind the job numbers, even if it is obfuscated.