The Jobs Market Is a Disaster Zone

Yesterday, the BLS reported:

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 2.5 million in May, and the unemployment rate declined to 13.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. These improvements in the labor market reflected a limited resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed in March and April due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it.

The news caught the financial markets off-guard; the consensus was for a large increase in the unemployment rate.  

However, the underlying data is an absolute disaster.  

The unemployment rate is the highest it’s been since the end of the 1940s.

  The percentage of employed women cratered to its lowest level since the late 1970s.

The percentage of employed men collapsed to its lowest level ever.

And the millions of job gains barely made a dent in all the losses.

There is no way to positively spin this data. 

So — the good news is that we probably saw the economic bottom last month.

The bad news is the damage is very severe.  To solve it, we’ll need more stimulus.