Looking for a job? Hurry up...

From Dave:

While nonfarm payrolls were basically in line with the consensus, declining 216,000 in August, there were downward revisions of 49,000 and the details were simply awful. The fact that 65% of companies are still in the process of cutting their staff loads is quite disturbing — even manufacturing employment fell 63,000 in August, to its lowest level since April 1941 (!), despite the inventory replenishment in the automotive sector and all the excitement over the recent 50+ print in the ballyhooed ISM index. The fact that temp agency employment is still declining, albeit at a slower pace, alongside the flat workweek and jobless claims stuck at 570,000, are all foreshadowing continued weakness in the labour market ahead. Until we see signs of a sustained turnaround in the jobs market all bets are off over the sustainability of any economic recovery

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Credit cards vs employment: beware

As the unemployment rate surges (not only in the US but everywhere), we see in the US the continuing high correlation between credit cards delinquencies and unemployment. This is not boding well.
There appears to be universal agreement that the unemployment rate will remain very high well into 2010. Does this mean consumers and banks have tougher sledding ahead than the “green shoots” theorists are currently pricing in?

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Unemployment

Although it’s difficult to compare the unemployment rate of Europe with the States, the ‘official’ US jobless rate is on his way to pass Europe’s. After Spain and Lithuania the States ranks third now:

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