Half full/Half empty (cont'd)

Posted at 12:01 PM on May 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

I listened to and read the coverage yesterday of Minnesota's unemployment rate and the math made no sense to me.

Minnesota employers shed 9,500 jobs in April, which is about half as many jobs as the state lost in March, MPR reported. "Minnesota employers shed fewer jobs in April than in the prior month," the Business Journal said. "Fewer Minnesota Jobs Cut," the Fox9 News headline said.

According to the Department of Employment and Economic Development, there are 13,389 more people with jobs in April, than had them in May. The number of officially unemployed dropped by 3,781 people.

True, there's no putting lipstick on this pig. It's the worst job market since 1984.

Comments (2)

Isn't this likely because of how the job numbers are seasonally adjusted?

Posted by richie | May 22, 2009 1:42 PM

The 9,500 is the seasonally adjusted number for jobs gained/lost (in this case lost). So is the number provided above.

But the employment statistics are based on a survey of employers and are a count of the number of jobs, not the number of people working.

So the 9500 jobs lost does not contradict the fact 13,389 more people were working here last month. It's just a matter, I guess, of how one wants to assess the economic situation.

Posted by Bob Collins | May 22, 2009 3:20 PM

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