Tuesday, June 5, 2012

US Job Report May 2012


  • The most recent jobs report gives a disappointing view of the US economy. The American employers were able to add just 69,000 jobs in the previous month, much lower than what the economists had predicted.


  • According to the household employment survey, 422,000 jobs were added in May but the labor force increased by 642,000 thereby raising the unemployment rate for the current month from 8.1% to 8.2%.

  • The personal income and nominal consumer spending have also increased by 0.2% and 0.3% respectively.

The recent job figures is a big blow for the President Obama administration, which now has three continuous months of disappointing job figures to its credit. Standard and Poor’s 500 and Dow Jones are going through the worst period of the current year. With about five months remaining in the election, the current economic indicators could turn out to be a game changer.

"It is now clear to everyone that President Obama's policies have failed to achieve their goals and that the Obama economy is crushing America's middle class," said Romney while commenting on the report. On the other hand, the President believes that the economy “will come back stronger,".

It is not just US, the entire global economic system is suffering, UK has slipped into another recession while the rest of Europe copes with the debt crisis, the Indian rupee is weakening and China’s growth is slowing down. "The U.S. is not an island, and what happens abroad matters here," said an economist from Mesirow Financial.

According to the recent polls conducted by Associated Press and GfK, 52% of Americans have disapproved of the White House’s economic strategy while 46% have approved.

Some circles are looking towards the Feds to intervene, but there is very little the central bank can do as it has already maintained the interest rates at record lows. However, under the current circumstances, the Federal Reserve is likely to announce some new monetary policy actions in the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in 20th June.


Your comments and feedback are always appreciated
Sarfaraz Khan