In April, the economy lost 20,000 jobs, according to the Employment Report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Generally, about 150,000 new jobs are needed each month to keep the economy stable. Year-over-year, employment was up only .18%. This is the weakest year-over-year job growth since 2004, indicating a steadily declining trend since January 2006 when year-over-year growth peaked at 2.1%. The last time year-over-year job growth trended down this severely was in 2001, which led to 29 months of job losses. (See Google Spreadsheet Employment )

The unemployment rate dropped slightly to 5%. This basically also continues a worsening trend begun in October 2006, when unemployment was at a low of 4.4%. The total number of unemployed is 7.6 million, a slight improvement from last month.(Source: BLS, Employment Situation Summary)

Manufacturing jobs continued the decline begun October 2006. The economy now has 3.38% fewer manufacturing jobs than the year before. Manufacturing jobs are a good leading indicator of overall economic performance, since they produce big-ticket items that consumers will put off buying when the economy starts to weaken. As the orders decline, manufacturers will hire less workers, and even lay off existing workers to keep costs low. (See Google Spreadsheet Manufacturing Jobs)

For a summary of recent employment trends, check out Employment Current Statistics.

What This Means for You

The worsening employment situation has been caused by the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, which led to the Banking Liquidity Crisis. Over the last six months, banks have written down $150 billion in assets, contributing to a tightening of credit everywhere. Job losses are primarily in manufacturing, finance and housing construction, which has cut 350,000 jobs in the last year. As job losses in these sectors increase, consumer spending has declined, which will continue have a negative impact on economic growth. (Source: The Economist, Gloomy Days in America, April 2, 2008)

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