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Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog Fourth Quarter off to Good Start with Strong Job Gains, Unemployment at New Low Nov. 8, 2014 Terms of Use: These slides are provided under Creative Commons License Attribution—Share Alike 3.0 . You are free to use these slides as a resource for your economics classes together with whatever textbook you are using. If you like the slides, you may also want to take a look at my textbook, Introduction to Economics, from BVT Publishing.

Payroll Jobs Continue Strong Gains
 The economy added 214,000 payroll jobs in October, the ninth straight month in which the economy added 200,000 or more jobs  August and September job gains were revised upward by a total of 31,000 Nov. 8, 2014 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Yearly Job Gains Strongest in
Eight Years  Total payroll job growth over the past year was over 2.6 million, a rate first reached in September  The last time annual job growth was that strong was back in 2006, during the peak months of the pre-recession boom Nov. 8, 2014 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Unemployment Rate Falls to New
Low of 5.8 Percent  The US unemployment rate fell to 5.8 percent in October, a new low for the recovery.  The unemployment rate is the ratio of unemployed persons to the labor force. The labor force grew by 416,000 for the month. The number of employed persons grew by 683,000, while the number of unemployed fell by 267,000  These numbers are based on a household survey that, unlike the separate survey of payroll jobs, includes farm workers and the self-employed Nov. 8, 2014 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Broad vs. Standard Unemployment Rate
 The BLS also provides a broader measure of job-market stress, U-6  The numerator of U-6 includes  Unemployed persons  Marginally attached persons who would like to work but are not looking because they think there are no jobs, or for personal reasons  Part-time workers who would prefer full-time work but can’t find it  The denominator includes the labor force plus the marginally attached  U-6 fell to 11.5 percent in October, also a new low for the recovery Nov. 8, 2014 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Involuntary Part-Time Work Falls 
The percentage of the labor force working part time for economic reasons (involuntary part-time work) decreased in October, continuing its general downward trend  Involuntary part-time work remains high by historical standards Nov. 8, 2014 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

Long-term Unemployment Rises Slightly 
The recession and slow recovery have been characterized by unusually high levels of long-term unemployment  The percentage of all unemployed workers who were out of a job for 27 weeks or longer rose slightly in October for the second month in a row  Both the mean and median duration of unemployment rose slightly Nov. 8, 2014 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

The Bottom Line: Prospects Look
Good for Q4  The strong jobs report for October was the first major indication of the state of the economy for the fourth quarter of 2014  Following a previous report that showed 2.5 percent growth of GDP in the third quarter, the jobs data bode well for continued growth during the remainder of the year Nov. 8, 2014 Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog

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