Angel in the details

US jobless figures not as bad as they appear

America's jobless situation may not be as bad as the figures, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, make it appear. While the January establishment survey showed only 113,000 new jobs, the household survey showed 616,000 jobs created net of end-year adjustments. It also pointed to an increase in the labor force and a falling unemployment rate. The economic recovery is still strengthening, if in slow motion.

Several factors make even the "establishment" figures, compiled through a survey of businesses, better than they look. Previous reports were revised up by 34,000, continuing a pattern of upward adjustments after publication. In addition the annual revisions to the establishment survey added a total of 347,000 jobs not previously identified.

The breakdown within the jobs added was also encouraging. Since government at all levels lost 29,000 jobs, the private sector added a net 142,000 jobs, not bad given the crummier than normal weather in January.

Within the private sector, construction reversed a December decline and added 48,000 jobs; manufacturing added 21,000 jobs and leisure and hospitality added 24,000 jobs; while retail trade lost 13,000 jobs. This suggests the trend during 2013 of job creation mostly in low-paid "McJobs" was broadened to include higher-paying sectors.

The so-called "household" survey, compiled through a monthly survey of homes, was even more encouraging. Some 616,000 jobs were added, net of year-end revisions, while employment ticked up to 58.8 per cent of the population, reducing the official unemployment rate to 6.6 per cent. Long-term unemployment also fell by 232,000 to 3.6 million and the broad "U-6" measure of unemployment fell by 0.4 percentage point to 12.7 per cent, the lowest since November 2008.

In contrast to December's figures, January's were somewhat reassuring, suggesting that in spite of harsh winter weather economic recovery is picking up and bringing jobs to even the long-term unemployed.

Combined with last week's decent fourth-quarter GDP report, it suggests the United States' economic malaise is, ever so slowly, lifting.