Jobs data may give more questions than answers

[OhioChick]

Thu Oct 4, 2007 11:18am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Friday's employment report will likely show sizable job growth for September, emboldening investors who drove the Dow Jones industrial average to a record high this week, but that won't tell the whole economic story.

If economists' projections for solid payroll gains but also a rise in the unemployment rate prove correct, there will likely be plenty of data to support arguments both for and against an imminent U.S. recession.

A combination of outsourcing, offshoring and tight cost controls mean Corporate America is running leaner than it was before the most recent recession in 2001, so employers may be slower to cut jobs despite signs of cooling demand.

"U.S. firms may not see as much excess in their work forces at the present time as they have in past cycles when demand faltered," Goldman Sachs economist Ed McKelvey wrote in a recent note to clients.

That would mean a rising unemployment rate as companies cut back on hiring and those who are out of work have a tough time finding new jobs, but not necessarily the full-blown recession that normally accompanies a swift spike in job losses.

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN0425990220071004

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. I can't wait for Paul Craig Roberts' take on those numbers, when it comes out

He is over at CounterPunch, he does not BS it. One thing to check out the number of jobs in the manufacturing sector.