In June, 132,000 new jobs were created, according to the employment report, released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Generally, about 150,000 new jobs are needed each month to keep the economy stable, so this was a little discouraging.

Fortunately, the unemployment rate essentially remained in the 4.5% range, where it has been since September 2006.

However, when you compare current employment to that of one year ago, there are two disturbing trends.

1. Jobs increased by only 1.5%, which is pretty weak. Even worse, for the last 12 months, year over year job growth has been getting weaker.
2. Of even more concern is that manufacturing jobs have been steadily declining since last October. This means that, in June, there were 1.3% 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. (Source: BLS, Employment Situation Summary)

What This Means for You

Since year-over-year employment growth is trending in the wrong direction, it probably means the economy is continuing to soften. Now would be a good time to defer new large purchases, and pay down debt -- just in case. The next employment report will be released August 3, so check back then.

Related Articles

• A Primer on the Role of Supply in the U.S. Economy
• The Impact of an Aging Labor Force on the U.S. Economy
• How the U.S. Is Losing Its Competitive Edge

employment