Pay close attention to manufacturing employment, which is a really good indicator of the true health of the economy. That is because factories are less likely to add workers until they have the orders in hand. This provides a better leading indicator of future economic performance than does service employment, which stays more consistent through thick and thin.
Another key indicator within the Employment Report is the unemployment rate. This is not as useful for predicting future economic trends, since it is a lagging indicator. However, it is very good for confirming trends.
2012 Employment Statistics
April: The headlines read only 115,000 jobs were created, but behind the scenes were some major winners.
March: Why the 120,000 job gain was disappointing.
February: 227,000 jobs were created in February, all due to business growth.
January: The economy created 243,000 jobs, primarily in professional and business services, hospitality, and manufacturing.
2011 Employment Statistics
December: A welcome 200,000 jobs were added in December.
November: Strong retail sales helped boost jobs by 120,000.
October: Another 90,000 jobs were added.
September: Although 103,000 jobs were added, many more were needed.
August: Astonishingly, absolutely no jobs were created, giving urgency to Obama's jobs speech the following week.
July:An amazing 117,000 jobs were added, but the Dow dropped 400 points anyway.
June: Even though only 18,000 jobs were added, it's too soon to panic.
May: Only 54,000 new jobs were added.
April: Mixed news -- 244,000 new jobs were added.
March: A strong jobs report with a welcome 216,000 new jobs added.
February: The economy added 192,000 new jobs.
January: The January Jobs Report was confusing. If the economy only added 36,000 new jobs, why did unemployment drop?
2010 Employment Statistics
December: Although 103,000 jobs were added, the December jobs report was a mixture of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
November: There were 39,000 jobs added in November, creating 842,000 more jobs than the year before.
October: The economy gained 151,000 in October, and 829,000 jobs over the year before.
September: The economy gained 334,000 jobs over the year before.
August: The economy gained 229,000 jobs over the year before - the first time in 26 months.
July: The economy lost 120,000 jobs thanks to Census layoffs, but business hiring was up by 71,000 jobs.
June: The loss of 225,000 Census jobs caused the economy to lose 125,000 jobs overall in June.
May: The Census added 411,000 jobs in April, most of the 431,000 improvement for the month.
April: The economy added 290,000 jobs since March, although it is still down 1.3 million jobs from the prior year.
March: The economy has 2.3 million fewer jobs than a year earlier.
February: The economy has 3.2 million fewer jobs than February 2009.
January: There were 4 million fewer jobs than the year before.
2009 Employment Statistics
December: The economy lost 4.2 million jobs in 2009.
November: The trend continues to improve, with 4.8 million fewer jobs than last year.
October: There were 5.8 million fewer jobs than last year, a tad better than September's report.
September: There were 6 million fewer jobs than last year, but this is better than last month, showing a trend improvement.
August: The job loss trend worsened, as the economy lost 6.2 million jobs from the year before.
July: The economy shed 247,000 jobs in a month. There were 6 million fewer jobs than the prior July
June: Nearly 450,000 jobs were lost in June, resulting in 5.9 million fewer jobs than the year before.
May: Another 345,000 jobs were shed in May.
April: A whopping 611,000 jobs were lost, making 5.3 million fewer opportunities than the year before.
March: Over 663,000 jobs disappeared from the economy. Year-over-year, employment declined by 4.8 million jobs. This is larger than any month's loss in the 2001 recession.
February: Year-over-year, employment declined by 4.1 million jobs, thanks to a 651,000 job loss in February.
January: The economy lost 598,000 jobs.
2008 Employment Statistics
December: The economy lost 524,000 jobs, a faster increase than in the 2001 recession.
November: The economy lost 533,000 jobs.
October: The economy lost 240,000 jobs from the prior month.
September: The economy lost 156,000 jobs from the prior month.
August: The economy lost 84,000 jobs.
July: 51,000 jobs were lost from the prior month, and 150,000 in the last year (11% decline).
June: The economy lost 62,000 jobs in July, a decline of .22% from the prior year.
May: The economy lost 150,000 in the last year (11% decline), the worst in five years. Just under 50,000 jobs were lost compared to the prior month.
April: The economy lost 20,000 jobs from the prior month, but only gained .18% year over year, showing a worsening trend.
March: The economy lost 80,000 jobs since last month, the worst loss since the last recession.
February: The economy lost 63,000 jobs in February when compared to January, and only gained .4% when compared year-over-year, possibly signaling recession.
January: For the first time since 2003, the economy lost jobs (16,000), and year-over-year growth was only .6%.
