Employment Data April 2014

 The above chart depicts the employment as released last week. As usual we still have a major gap in participation. This we have noted now since early 2008, a period in excess of six years now. Also true unemployment is still well above 10% and not improving greatly.

The above does show that employment is growing with population growth. The rate of growth however has not changed since it began, a concern.

The participation rate is a real concern. It is not clear if we just have a true systemic change and its cause. We have suggested true productivity increases and others have argued aggregate demand.

We have seen for the past two months a return to positive gaps thus indicating true added jobs in excess of population growth, a positive factor, albeit low.