(What’s Left of) Our Economy: Strong Crosswinds Roil the New U.S. Manufacturing Jobs Figures

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aerospace, air travel, automotive, CCP Virus, chemicals, coronavirus, COVID 19, Employment, fabricated metals products, infrastructure, Jobs, machinery, manufacturing, miscellaneous durable goods, miscellaneous non-durable goods, non-farm jobs, pharmaceuticals, PPE, private sector, regulation, semiconductor shortage, semiconductors, stimulus package, taxes, vaccines, wood products, Wuhan virus, {What's Left of) Our Economy

It’s tough to imagine a U.S. official monthly jobs report giving off so many conflicting signals about the health of domestic manufacturing and its outlook than the one that came out this morning (for April).

On the one hand, the sector’s 18,000 jobs loss was its worst monthly performance since the identical January setback. On the other hand, the problem was heavily concentrated in the automotive sector, which has been forced to cut back production due to the ongoing global semiconductor shortage. On the other, other hand (!), this shortage is unlikely to ease for many months. On still another hand, the revisions were strong. And some key manufacturing industries continued a recent pattern of solid results. At the same time, even removing the automotive results would still leave the rest of domestic manufacturing’s April employment performance decidedly weak.

I could go on in this vein – and will below.

The decisive automotive/semiconductor effect on the April manufacturing figures becomes clear enough upon realizing that this sector’s 27,000 sequential employment loss was considerably greater than manufacturing’s total on-month job decline. Nonetheless, even had automotive held its employment line, the consequent 9,000 manufacturing job increase would have been unimpressive at very best.

And yet there are those revisions. March’s initially reported 53,000 monthly manufacturing payroll increases – the best such figure since last September’s 55,000 – are now pegged at 54,000. Even better, February’s initially downgraded (from 21,000 to 18,000) monthly employment increase has now been revised all the way up to 35,000.

As a result, domestic industry has now regained 63.83 percent (or 870,000) of the 1.363 million jobs it shed during the height of the CCP Virus pandemic in spring, 2020. It’s still behind the private sector overall (which has recovered 66.88 percent of its pandemic peak employment loss), but still ahead of the overall economy’s (called the non-farm sector by the Labor Department, which issues the monthly jobs reports) 63.26 percent.

The only major April manufacturing jobs loser other than automotive was the small wood products sector (7,200). The big fabricated metals products industry saw employment fall by 2,900 on month in April, but the drop followed a large March gain that’s been downwardly revised but still stands at a strong 10,400.

The machinery numbers were downright encouraging, and that matters because as I keep reminding, this subsector’s products are used not only throughout the rest of domestic manufacturing, but in other important parts of the economy like construction and agriculture. Its April employment boost of 3,700 followed March job creation that was upgraded strongly to 5,400.

In the big miscellaneous durable goods sector, a catchall category that includes everything from surgical equipment and supplies (like personal healthcare protection equipment – PPE – more on which later) to jewelry to gaskets and fasteners to musical instruments, payrolls jumped by 12,600 – their best monthly performance since its 15,300 advance last July.

And two other significant manufacturing employers –miscellaneous non-durable goods and the big chemicals sectors (whose output is also used all over the economy) – each generated enjoyed healthy payrolls increases of 4,300 in April.

Even the industries closely related to the fight against the CCP Virus, whose employment performance since the pandemic’s arrival generally have disappointed, showed some signs of job-creation life in April.

The overall pharmaceutical industry added 1,500 jobs on month in March (the latest available figures) and Februay’s improvement remains a strong 1,700. Since the last pre-pandemic month (February, 2020), this sector’s payrolls have grown by 3.11 percent.

Hiring slowed in the pharmaceuticals subsector containing vaccines – from 1,300 sequentially in February (unchanged from the first estimate) to 500 in March (also the latest available figures). But these companies’ employment is still 6.77 percent higher than in that last pre-pandemic month of February, 2020.

The employment signals were mixed in the manufacturing category containing PPE goods like facemasks, gloves, and medical gowns. Monthly job creation in February was downgraded from zero to a loss of 100, but March’s results (also the most recent) came in at 900, and this sector now employs 8.75 percent more workers than in February, 2020.

In an aerospace industry troubled for years by Boeing’s safety woes, the recent jobs figures are literally all over the place. The latest (March) results show that payrolls for aircraft fell month-to-month in March by 1,800 – surely reflecting the continuing virus-generated slump in air travel. But February’s upward revisions were nothing less than stunning – skyrocketing from a jump of 1,000 to one of 11,700. Fluctuations – though more modest – were also evident in aircraft engines and parts, and non-engine aircraft parts.

Yet as confusing as the new manufacturing jobs figures have been, the future seems just as cloudy. Optimism remains justified by developments like the enormous amounts of stimulus still pouring into the U.S. economy, by the apparent certainty that a major injection of infratructure spending is (finally) on the way, and by the continuing reopening of the economy spurred by vaccinations and less consumer caution.

Even so, the semiconductor shortage is not only here to stay for some time, but has affected many other industries other than automotive. The rate of U.S. vaccinations is slowing and the virus – including the new variants – appears likely to stage something of a comeback when the weather cools again in the fall. Air travel may never recover to pre-virus levels, which will harm not only the aerospace industry per se, but its vast domestic supply chain. And higher taxes and many more regulations could well hit U.S.-based manufacturers – at least until the Congressional elections of 2022.

On balance, I’d still bet on a bright future for domestic industry – mainly because all the sentiment surveys show that manufacturers themselves are full of confidence, and because President Biden has kept in place all the Trump China and metals tariffs that have priced much foreign competition out of the U.S. market. But I’m far from willing to bet the ranch.

(What’s Left of) Our Economy: U.S. Manufacturing Hiring Climbs Back on Track

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aerospace, automotive, Biden, Boeing, CCP Virus, China, coronavirus, COVID 19, Donald Trump, gloves, healthcare goods, Jobs, macinery, manufacturing, masks, non-farm jobs, pharmaceuticals, PPE, private sector, semiconductor shortage, semiconductors, tariffs, transportation equipment, vaccines, Wuhan virus, {What's Left of) Our Economy

As this morning’s February official U.S. jobs report was dominated by a reopening-fueled surge in leiure and hospitality payrolls (which accounted for 355,000 of the month’s total 379,000 sequential improvement), American domestic manufacturing’s employment performance resumed chugging along.

U.S.-based industry gained 21,000 jobs on net last month, recovering from its drop off in January (which was revised down from a decline of 10,000 to one of 14,000). December’s initially reported advance, though, was upgraded from 31,000 to 34,000.

The February results mean that manufacturing has now regained 60.45 percent (824,000) of the 1.363 million jobs lost during the peak CCP Virus lockdowns period of last March and April. Consequently, they show that industry’s reemployment pace has continued to reverse its previous performance as the economy’s pandemic recovery leader.

That status now belongs to the overall private sector, which since last April has regenerated 62.61 percent (13.267 million) of the 21.191 million jobs it shed last spring.

Nonetheless, since public sector net hiring remains very weak, manufacturing’s job-creation performance remains well ahead of that of the economy as a whole – which is viewed by the Labor Department, which compiles and releases these statistics, as the “non-farm sector.” Since April, employment in this combined public and private sector is back up by 12.887 million – representing just 57.63 percent of the 22.362 million jobs they lost together in March and April.

Manufacturing’s biggest February jobs winner by far was transportation equipment (up 9,700 – more than 46 percent of industry’s total employment advance). Since payrolls in the very big automotive sector inched up by just 1,000, it’s likely that much of the rest of the increase came in an aerospace sector whose employment troubles are being healed by Boeing’s comeback from safety woes. But because the aerospace (and other non-automotive transportation) jobs figures are reported one month late, we’ll need to wait until the March report to know for sure.

Other major February manufacturing jobs gainers were miscellaneous non-durable goods (up 4,100), machinery (3,800), plastics and rubber products (3,000) and miscellaneous durable goods (2,800). The increases in miscellaneous non-durables and machinery were especially encouraging, as the former category (as detailed below) includes many of the medical goods vital to the anti-virus fight, and the latter’s products are used throughout not only the manufacturing sector, but other big parts of the economy like construction and agriculture.

The biggest February manufacturing jobs losers were food manufacturing (where payrolls fell by a net 3,100), non-metallic mineral products (2,400), and printing and related support activities (1,700).

Given the continuing struggle against the pandemic, the continuing shortages of many vital products like protective gear, and the surge in vaccine production, the jobs performance of healthcare goods once again underwhelmed – though keep in mind that, as with the non-automotive transportation goods categories, the data here are one month behind, too.

In the broad pharmaceuticals sector, employment actually fell by 700 in January. December’s initially reported 2,200 jobs rise has now been upgraded to 2,300, but this big industry’s payrolls are up just 1.89 percent since last Febuary – the last full pre-pandemic data month.

Hiring was stronger in the pharmaceuticals subsector containing vaccines. January employment rose by just 100 sequentially, but the initially reported December 1,100 payrolls increase was revised up to 1,600. As a result, the subsector’s workforce is now 4.55 percent bigger than last February.

The manufacturing category containing personal healthcare-related protection devices (PPE) like facemasks, gloves, and medical gowns has grown employment most impressively of all these healthcare sectors. But it lost 800 net new jobs in February, a drop that failed to offset the upward revisions of 600 for December. These shifts left employment in this sector 7.98 percent higher than the final pre-pandemic monthly figure.

Notwithstanding January’s workmanlike result, all the pieces still seem to be in place for an accelerating manufacturing jobs rebound: the return of normal economic conditions generally (however choppily), Boeing’s brightening prospects, the continuing need for much more in the way of vaccines and other medical goods, the Biden administration’s stated determination to boost domestic output of CCP Virus-related products, and last – but surely not least – the sweeping tariffs placed by the Trump administration on imports from China that for the near future President Biden apparently will keep.

No one should forget, though, that one strong new headwind has appeared – a global shortage of semiconductors that is already depressing production across manufacturing. Yet even this disruptive event at bottom seems largely due to the unexpected speed of the U.S. economic bounceback, especially in sectors shut down almost entirely, like automotive manufacturing. So whatever the short-term difficulties it causes, the microchip shortage looks like it stems from the kinds of problems, to borrow from an old sports adage, that manufacturing and its workers ultimately would like to have.        

(What’s Left of) Our Economy: More Manufacturing Jobs Strength – & Vindication of Trump Tariffs

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737 Max, aerospace, automotive, Boeing, CCP Virus, China, coronavirus, COVID 19, Employment, Jobs, machinery, manufacturing, manufacturing jobs, non-farm payrolls, pharmaceuticals, PPE, private sector, tariffs, Trade, trade war, Trump, vaccines, Wuhan virus, {What's Left of) Our Economy

This morning’s official U.S. jobs report, for December, shows that, to paraphrase that unforgettable battery ad slogan, domestic manufacturing just keeps hiring and hiring and….

As a result, the December data also add to the already compelling case that domestic industry’s continued resilience – including an ongoing hiring out-performance – owes significantly to the Trump tariffs that have prevented imports from China from flooding U.S. markets and massively depriving Made in America products of customers as they had before his presidency.

The nation’s manufacturers boosted their payrolls by 38,000 on month in December, even as the private sector shed 95,000 jobs and government at all levels lost 45,000.

Moreover, in line with the strong overall employment revisions for October and November, industry’s previously reported 33,000 hiring improvement for the former (which had already been downgraded from 38,000) is now judged to be 43,000. And November’s figure has been upgraded from 27,000 to 35,000.

Although this performance pales compared with the 333,000 jobs added in manufacturing in June, the sector continues to punch above its employment weight, and in fact has now won back a status it apparently had lost in the fall.

As of December, U.S.-based industry had regained 60.16 percent (820,000) of the 1.363 million jobs it had lost during the worst (so far) of the pandemic-induced downturn in March and April.

That’s slightly ahead of the total private sector, which has recovered 59.91 percent (12.696 million) of its 21.191 million drop last spring.

And its considerably ahead of the overall economy’s record. Non-farm payrolls (the definition of the American employment universe used by the Labor Department, which issues these jobs reports) have risen by 12.321 million since April, a bounceback reprsenting only 55.60 percent of their 22.160 million plunge that month and in March.

The big reason is the slump in government jobs at all levels, and especially in states and localities. Public sector employment sank by 45,000 sequentially in December and by 81,000 the month before. And the outlook for public sector employment remains clouded by the brightening (due to the nearly final 2020 election results) but still uncertain prospects for a federal bailout of state and local governments, whose December monthly job losses totaled 49,000. (The federal government actually added positions.)

Manufacturing’s biggest monthly employment winners in December were plastics and rubber products (up 6,900), the automotive sector (6,700), non-metallic mineral products (6,100), food manufacturing (5,500), and apparel (4,000).

Especially encouraging were the 2,800 jobs created by domestic machinery makers, since the equipment they make is so widely used throughout the rest of manufacturing and elsewhere in the economy. November’s on-month machinery jobs gains were revised up from 1,900 to 2,500, but October’s totals were revised down for a second time, from 3,000 to 2,700.

December’s biggest manufacturing job losers were miscellaneous non-durable goods (down 11,200 sequentially) and primary metals (down 2,100).

Also on the encouraging side: Better progress has been made in job-creation for the CCP Virus-related medical manufacturing categories. These only go through November, but they show that the the broad pharmaceuticals and medicines sector added 1,000 new jobs that month, and its October figure was upgraded all the way from 100 to 1,100.

In addition, the sub-sector containing vaccines increased payrolls in December by 1,100, and its October performance was revised up from 600 to 1,100.

But in the manufacturing category containing PPE goods like face masks, gloves, and medical gowns, along with cotton swabs, the previously reported October employment increase stayed unreivsed at 400, and the November growth was only 500.

These results, however, still mean that the PPE category’s job gains since February have been much stronger (7.85 percent) than those of the vaccines category (a disappointing 2.82 percent) and of the broader pharmaceuticals industry (an even weaker 1.40 percent).

Finally, other than the prospect of a vaccine-related return to normal in the U.S. and global economies (for domestic manufacturing is a big exporters), the biggest reason for further manufacturing employment optimism concerns the aerospace sector. It’s been pummeled by both the pandemic-induced nosedive in air travel around the world, and by Boeing’s safety woes.

The U.S. aerospace giant isn’t out of the woods yet. Its troubled 737 Max model has now been recertified by the federal government as safe to return to flight, but new production-related problems have cropped up, too. Moreover, who can say with any confidence when “normal,” or enough of it to help, Boeing, returns?

Yet assuming some substantial Boeing recovery in the foreseeable future, a major restart of its own manufacturing could give a big boost to domestic industry as a whole, given its many and long domestic supply chains.

(What’s Left of) Our Economy: Manufacturing Job Growth Kept Slowing Last Month

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737 Max, aerospace, automotive, Boeing, CCP Virus, China, coronavirus, COVID 19, Department of Labor, Jobs, Joe Biden, machinery, manufacturing, medical equipment, non-farm employment, pharmaceuticals, PPE, private sector, stimulus package, tariffs, trade war, Trump, vaccines, Wuhan virus, {What's Left of) Our Economy

The manufacturing employment growth slowdown that began in early summer continued in November, according to the latest monthly U.S. jobs report released by the Labor Department this morning. Moreover, industry’s cumulative employment-creation rate of increase during the CCP Virus rebound period fell further behind that of the overall American private sector.

Domestic manufacturers added a net 27,000 workers to their payrolls in November – the weakest rise since August’s 30,000. As recently as June, such industrial jobs jumped by 333,000. Moreover, revisions were slightly negative. September’s monthly 60,000 gain was unchanged, but the October improvement was reduced from 38,000 to 33,000.

In a return to early rebound-period patterns, automotive employment dominated the November picture for manufacturing, as vehicle and parts makers accounted for well over half (15,400) of the sequential payrolls expansion.

Other job-creation winners for November included plastics and rubber products (4,600 of the total 5,000 job gains for the non-durable goods super-sector); furniture (3,100); and miscellaneous durable goods manufacturing (2,500 – this category includes much virus-related medical equipment, more on which below).

Monthly employment losses in manufacturing were small by sector, but widespread. The worst results were turned in by fabricated metals products (2,000), the big chemicals sector (1,900), primary metals (1,700), and apparel (1,500).

Somewhat encouragingly, the large bellwether machinery sector managed to add to its payrolls, but the increase was just 1,900, and the October rise was revised down from 3,900 to 3,000.

As of November, manufacturing had regained 764,000 (56.05 percent) of the 1.363 million jobs lost during the worst of the pandemic-induced downturn in March and April. Its employment drop during those months represented 10.61 percent of its payrolls level in February – the last pre-virus month.

That rate of improvement is still faster than that of the economy overall: Non-farm payrolls (the Labor Department’s U.S. employment universe) have recovered 12.326 million (55.62 percent) of their March and April losses.

But this economy-wide total was held back by the 99,000 public sector jobs lost in November, due overwhelmingly to the federal government’s release of 93,000 workers hired temporarily to help conduct the 2020 Census. At the same time, state and local government employment levels were little changed last month, and they could wind up implementing major job cuts unless Washington approves CCP Virus relief for them. So the cumulative manufacturing numbers may well continue looking better than the overall non-farm payrolls numbers for the next few months at least, but for all the wrong reasons.

And accordingly, as of November, the overall private sector has regained 12.670 million (59.79 percent) of the 21.191 million jobs it shed during the worst pandemic months.

The employment figures for the CCP Virus-related medical manufacturing categories only go through October, but given the scale of the pandemic and the demand for these products, their jobs gains have been surprisingly negligible since the worst of the virus-induced recession.

For example, the broad pharmaceuticals and medicines sector added only 100 workers on net in October, and has increased its payrolls by only 0.74 percent since February and 1.01 percent since April. It’s true that its job losses were minimal (0.26 percent in March and April). But the recent increases still look meager given the nation’s months-long health emergency.

Within this category, the sub-sector including vaccines hired 600 net new employees in October, bringing its jobs gains to 1.26 percent since February, and 3.42 percent since April – also reflecting modest job losses suffered in February and March. And of course, due to recent announcements of promising vaccines and the likelihood of huge production ramps, the employment picture here will bear close watching in the months ahead.

The employment performance of the manufacturing category containing PPE goods like face masks, gloves, and medical gowns has been stronger. In October, its payrolls expanded by 400, and they’re up 7.38 percent since February, and actually grew slightly during March and April, too.

Of course, numerous wild cards are likely to impact domestic industry’s job-creation record going forward. But their net effect is difficult to forecast now, for any number of reasons. How much bigger will the virus’ second wave become? Will pandemic relief be approved in Washington, and how big will any package be? Will economic growth continue whether such legislation is passed or not?

That vaccine sector doesn’t look big enough to affect overall manufacturing job totals. But resumed production of Boeing’s safety-troubled 737 Max model and of aerospace manufacturing generally due to an overall national and global recovery would be substantial. And finally, will apparent President-elect Joe Biden lift any of President Trump’s steep, sweeping China tariffs? With this many uncertainties still clouding the picture, it could be many months before a manufacturing New Normal emerges – and with it, the prospect of figuring out exactly how healthy or sickly domestic industry’s fundamentals really are.

(What’s Left of) Our Economy: Restaurant Nation and its Consequences

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(What's Left of) Our Economy, CCP Virus, coronavirus, drinking places, food services, Jobs, Manhattan Institute, New York City, private sector, private sector jobs, recession, restaurants, The New York Daily News, wages, Wuhan virus

If you’re interested in New York City and its economy, and how it’s been affected by the CCP Virus, and major changes in the nation’s economy and family life, Howard Husock’s op-ed piece in The New York Daily News last month dealing with all these subjects is a must-read. In fact, it’s so interesting and important that it led me to investigate how the rise of the restaurant sector in the City – his prime focus – has played out nationally.

As shown by the author, a researcher at the Manhattan Institute, the restaurant industry has become nothing less than vital to the city’s economy. The wallop it’s taken from the virus and resulting shutdowns has thrown its full recovery – at least for the foreseeable future – into serious doubt. And therefore its sagging fortunes and seemingly gloomy prospects are strongly influencing the debate over how fast the City should return to business-as-usual.

At least as consequential, Husock argues convincingly that the burgeoning importance of the broad food service industry in recent decades reflects a major New York economic and social trend: Restaurants “can no longer be understood as the luxury it once was but, rather, as both a prerequisite for a successful economic recovery and an indicator that one is underway.”

When I looked into the national data (some of which Husock presents), I found that something like this conclusion is warranted for the country as a whole as well – and that it’s worrisome news at best economically.

Husock’s national data goes way back to the early 20^th century, and it looks at the U.S. labor market measured in terms of the types of occupations Americans hold. I’ve looked at the data measuring employment by sector of the economy, and although the restaurant figures only begin with 1990, they picture they draw looks comparable. (RealityChek regulars will note that I’m not using my usual method of comparing economic expansions to economic expansions, or recessions to recessions. My reason: the trends described here seem to hold during all kinds of economies – as I’ll indicate below.)

Chiefly, the numbers make clear that from 1990 to the end of 2019 (just before the virus struck), on a December-to-December basis, total U.S. employment in the private sector grew by 42.58 percent. But in the food services and drinking places category, the increase was 86.48 percent – more than twice as great. In food service businesses alone (excluding bars), the growth was 89.52 percent. That is, the workforces in these sectors, white- and blue-collar employees combined, nearly doubled during this period.

Particularly noteworthy – during the 2000s (which include the 2007-09 Great Recession), total private sector jobs fell by 2.99 percent. For the food service and drinking places, they increased by 14.44 percent, and for eating places alone, by 16.24 percent. So as I just stated, these trends seem to have unfolded during booms and bust alike.

Viewed through another statistical lens, in 1990, food services and drinking places employees represented 7.22 percent of all private sector workers. In December, 2019, this share was 9.44 percent. For eating places alone, the 1990-2019 rise was from 6.44 percent to 8.56 percent.

Also crucial to note: However, increasingly convenient dining or taking out has become for Americans, the rapid relative growth of restaurant-type jobs doesn’t look like a plus for their economy. The main reason? Restaurant industry jobs really do pay poorly.

In December, 2019, the average hourly wage in the private sector was $28.37 before adjusting for inflation. For food services and drinking places in toto, it was $15.34 (not much more than half the private sector average) and for eating places alone, only $15.09.

The only real bright spot in this picture: wages in restaurant-type jobs have been rising faster lately than those for the private sector overall. The data here only date from 2006, but during the 2010-2019 period examined above, on a December-to-December basis, pre-inflation-dollar hourly wages in the private sector advanced by 24.65 percent. For all food service and drinking places, the improvement was 32.12 percent, and for eating places, 31.68 percent.

So the wages gap is closing, but not dramatically.

Precisely because the U.S. workforce was steadily turning into Restaurant Nation until the CCP Virus arrived, as with the New York City economy (though not quite so heavily), the entire economy’s return to a pre-virus normal will depend on financing that will enable a critical mass of this sector to survive. But someone needs to ask whether whether Restaurant Nation is a healthy and sustainable structure for the national economy over the longer haul

(What’s Left of) Our Economy: For Now, the U.S. Manufacturing Jobs Picture is Normalizing

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automotive, Employment, government workers, Jobs, manufacturing, non-farm employment, non-farm jobs, non-farm payrolls, private sector, public sector, stimulus package, {What's Left of) Our Economy

The total U.S. economy and employment pictures sure aren’t anywhere close to normal, but this morning’s official jobs report (for August) looked awfully familiar to anyone who’d been following payrolls in manufacturing before the CCP Virus struck. And the noteworthy result:  Industry continues to be a jobs outperformer during this pandemic period.     

In contrast to the enormous, and largely automotive-driven swings of previous months, U.S.-based manufacturers added 29,000 net new jobs last month compared with July’s levels. Automotive payrolls shrank by only 5,300.

Moreover, as with the overall non-farm economy (the U.S. government’s definition of the American employment universe), revisions to recent manufacturing results were slightly negative. July’s initially reported 26,000 manufacturing employment increase was revised up to 41,000, but June’s previous estimate of 357,000 (itself revised up) is now judged to have been just 333,000.

This time around, domestic industry’s biggest sequential employment winners in absolute terms were food products (up 12,100), plastics and rubber products (up 6,500), and fabricated metal products (up 5,900). The biggest losers were transportation equipment (whose 8,400 loss includes the 5,300 combined figures for vehicles and parts), non-metallic mineral products (down 4,400), and printing (down 4,100).

In all, from February (the last full month before virus-related shutdowns began dramatically depressing national economic activity) through its April bottom, manufacturing payrolls fell by 1.363 million, or 10.61 percent). Since then, industry has regained 643,000 (or 47.18 percent) of those positions. As a result, manufacturing employment is now 5.60 percent lower than in February, before the virus arrived.

Underscoring manufacturing’s relative resilience during the pandemic-induced recession, between February and April, the American private sector shed 21.191 million workers – a drop of 16.34 percent. Since then, 10.473 million net jobs have been restored (nearly half – 49.42 percent– of the total lost). As a result, private sector employment is now 8.26 percent below those pre-CCP Virus February levels.

In addition, from February through April, total non-farm employment sank by 22.34 million, or 14.64 percent. Since then, a net of 10.611 million (or 47.50 percent) of these jobs have come back, leaing non-farm payrolls 7.57 percent short of their pre-pandemic totals.

But since non-farm payrolls include public sector jobs, this performance will surely weaken if the Democratic-Republican standoff in Washington over economic stimulus stays unresolved for much longer, since one of the main bones of contention is federal aid for state and local governments whose tax revenues have been decimated by the virus and lockdowns.

Further, public sector jobs losses (and the service cuts sure to accompany them) inevitably will bleed into the private sector, as government is an important customer of what the private goods and service companies provide – both in terms of procurement, and in terms of how much government workers and their households consume.

Consequently, without a stimulus agreement, as unsatisfactory as this latest U.S. jobs report was, it might wind up being fondly remembered – including by manufacturers.

Im-Politic: On the Economy, Obama’s Record Looks Stronger than Trump’s

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Barack Obama, CCP Virus, coronavirus, COVID 19, election 2020, Employment to Population Ratio, GDP, gross domestic product, Im-Politic, Jobs, Joe Biden, Labor Force Participation Rate, labor productivity, manufacturing, non-farm jobs, private sector, productivity, real GDP, real private sector, real wages, recession, subsidized private sector, Trump, value added, wages, Wuhan virus

Not surprisingly, as this U.S. presidential cycle gets ever more intense, so has the debate over which boasts a better record in helping steer the nation’s economy: the Obama administration in which Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden served as second-in-command, or the incumbent Trump administration. I’ve just looked over some key data, and the verdict on most counts goes to the Obama administration. The margin of victory here isn’t huge, but it’s anything but razor thin, either. Moreover, any Obama edge is surprising given that the economy is President Trump’s major advantage in nearly all the polls.

All the same, here are the data. They compare performance during the last three full years of the Obama presidency and the first three full years of the Trump presidency. In my view, these time-frames deserve priority because they’re the ones closest to each other in the same expansionary business cycle, making apples to apples results much likelier.

The time-frames of course leave out the CCP Virus period, during which all the Trump numbers sank like stones. But if you regard the virus’ economic effects as purely artificial, having nothing to do with the economy’s fundamentals (as I do), then you want to strip them out.

Other methodological notes: Although the jobs-focused data come out from the federal government on a monthly basis, and therefore permit comparisons between completely identical (and virus-adjusted) three-year periods, the economic growth and productivity data don’t, so I show Trump results both through the first quarter of this year (affected by the shutdowns that began in March) and through the last quarter of 2019. In addition, regarding the monthly figures, because of the January 20 inauguration date, I peg the end of the Obama administration as January, 2017 and the beginning of the Trump administration as February, 2017.

And off we go, starting with overall employment, which consists of the Bureau of Labor Department’s U.S. employment universe – “non-farm jobs.”

Obama: +5.55 percent            Trump: +4.56 percent

But of course, non-farm jobs include all government jobs, and their status has much less to do with the economy’s underlying strengths and weaknesses than with politicians’ decision. So here are the numbers for private sector jobs.

Obama: +6.56 percent            Trump: +5.04 percent

So advantage Obama again. As RealityChek regulars know, however, not all private sector jobs are created equal. In fact, many barely deserve the term at all, because their circumstances depend so heavily on government spending. Healthcare is of course the leading example. Therefore, it’s useful to examine the employment results in what I’ve called the “real private sector”.

Obama +6.22 percent             Trump: + 4.63 percent

It’s another Obama out-performance. This string is broken when it comes to manufacturing jobs, however.

Obama: +2.38 percent           Trump: +3.78 percent

But Obama comes out ahead on inflation-adjusted wages for the entire private sector.

Obama +3.69 percent           Trump: +2.99 percent

And the margin is even bigger for real manufacturing wages.

Obama: +3.15 percent          Trump: +0.74 percent

One problem with looking at jobs gains or losses, or even the unemployment rate, is that these numbers don’t tell the whole story about the health of the labor market. To fill in the gaps, economists like to examine two performance measures called the Labor Force Participation Rate, and the Employment to Population Ratio.

The former, according to well regarded left-of-center economics think tank, reveals “the number of people in the labor force—defined as the sum of employed and unemployed persons—as a share of the total working-age population, which is the number of civilian, non-institutionalized people, age 16 and over.”

The latter, the same source explains, shows “the number of people currently employed as a share of the total working-age population, which is the number of civilian, non-institutionalized persons, age 16 and over.”

For what it’s worth, this reliable economics and finance website claims that the Employment to Population Ratio provides the best indication of job shrinkage or growth. So let’s begin there.

Obama: 58.8 percent to 59.9 percent       Trump: 59.9 percent to 61.1 percent

Pretty much a standoff.

As for Labor Force Participation:

Obama: 62.9 percent to 62.6 percent       Trump: 62.8 percent to 63.4 percent

Advantage, Mr. Trump.

As previously mentioned, the economic growth figures are only reported quarterly. Keeping that in mind, here’s how the two administrations stack up. The most commonly followed measure of the economy’s size and how it changes is inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP).

Obama: +8.19 percent           Trump: +5.75 percent

These data, though, include shutdown-y March, 2020. Taking the story only through the end of 2019 brings the Trump years’ performance up to 7.11 percent – but he still trails.

Interestingly, even including the first quarter of this CCP Virus-y year, Mr. Trump’s record is slightly better when another metric for economic growth is used – value-added. Its value lies in trying to eliminate the double- and even more overcounting that results when the of the parts and other inputs of a complicated product are counted both when they’re turned out individually, and when they’re contained in that final product.

Obama: +12.09 percent          Trump: +12.24 percent

The Trump presidency’s margin is even bigger in manufacturing value-added, and even including the first quarter:

Obama: +7.09 percent            Trump: +10.58 percent

Importantly, all the above value-added numbers are pre-inflation. After-inflation value-added data are tracked by the federal government, too, but they’re not even measured on a quarterly basis. Only full-year numbers are available. So since these make precise comparisons less possible, I’m skipping them.

Finally, here are numbers that hardly ever make the news, but might be the most important of all – the productivity data. These various measures of efficiency are widely viewed by economists are crucial to determining how healthy and durable economic growth is and will be, and therefore how strongly and for how long living standards can rise.

Results aren’t up-to-date enough for the broadest measure of economic efficiency – multi-factor productivity. But they are for the narrower measure, labor productivity – which gauges how much a single worker can produce in a single hour on the job – starting with the overall economy

Obama: +3.97 percent           Trump: +3.95 percent

And if you want to remove the first quarter of this year, because of the virus effect in March, overall labor productivity during the Trump period was up 4.02 percent

Labor productivity is monitored for manufacturing, too, and here are those statistics including the first quarter of this year:

Obama: -2.57 percent           Trump: +0.29 percent .

Oddly, if the first quarter is removed, the Trump years’ performance worsens a bit – and even falls to an overall dip of 0.09 percent. But however poor, it still tops the record of the Obama years.

So why are the Trump economy poll numbers so good? One possible answer: The final year of the Obama presidency was feeble by nearly all measures. Real gross domestic product advanced by only 1.70 percent. Total employment grew by a mere 1.64 percent, versuss 2.19 percent in 2014. National manufacturing employment actually dipped by 6,000 from 2015 levels. Real wage growth overall slowed from 1.26 percent in 2014 to 0.56 percent in 2016. And inflation-adjusted manufacturing wages performed scarcely better.

Moreover, as the New York Times article linked above makes clear, the public’s evaluations of the Trump economic record are incredibly partisan – often conflicting with a respondent’s actual situation.

It’s also possible and legitimate, as I’ve noted, to point to some important reasons for this Trump under-performance.  The President’s trade policies clearly disrupted national and global supply chains, and the consequent inefficiencies surely dragged on GDP and employment in the short term.  Boeing aircraft’s safety woes have undercut national economic performance lately, too.  But good luck to you if you think these considerations are going to have any effect on voters.  

I’m hardly naive enough to think that these or other economic facts will be enough to determine November’s outcome. And I have no idea how voters will factor in the deep CCP Virus-induced recession into their thinking. But the facts aren’t a throwaway, either, and although the Obama record didn’t exactly thump Mr. Trump’s, it’ll certainly provide Biden with considerable ammunition.

(What’s Left of) Our Economy: U.S. Manufacturing’s Jobs Recovery Continues Strongly

Tags

automotive, CCP Virus, coronavirus, COVID 19, exports, Jobs, manufacturing, NFP, non-farm jobs, non-farm payrolls, private sector, services, Trade, Wuhan virus, {What's Left of) Our Economy

The big question raised by today’s second straight expectations-clobbering official monthly U.S. jobs report (for June) is whether the surge in recovered employment can withstand whatever second CCP Virus wave of infections, or resurgence of the first wave, numerous states have been seeing lately.

I can’t answer that knowledgeably – and I suspect few others can, either. What I can do is note that the June numbers roughly repeat or confirm some of the patterns visible for May. Mainly, manufacturing held up better than the rest of the American jobs market, and within manufacturing, the swings have been dominated by the automotive sector.

Domestic industry added a net 356,000 workers to its payrolls in June, and revisions for the last two months – as with non-farm jobs as a whole (the U.S. government’s jobs universe) – were slightly positive (virtually unchanged at a 1.32 million net loss for April, upgraded from a 225,000 to a 250,000 net gain in May).

Fully 55 percent (195,800) of those 356,000 new June manufacturing jobs came in the automotive sector – a rubber band-like comeback surely reflecting the outsized hit this industry has taken since the CCP Virus threw the entire economy into a deep downturn. Even with this improvement, since February, combined vehicle and parts employment is down more than twice as much relatively speaking (12.11 percent) as overall manufacturing employment (5.89 percent).

Further, overall manufacturing’s record of pandemic-era resilience continued in June. Its monthly jobs growth was only 3.03 percent – slower than the rate for the total non-farm sector (3.61 percent) and the private sector (4.27 percent).

But a main reason is that manufacturing has taken a much smaller CCP Virus hit than the rest of the economy. That 5.89 percent employment loss since February has been considerably less than that of the non-farm sector (9.62 percent) or the private sector (10.17 percent).

Manufacturing employment could face some intriguing crosswinds in the months ahead. A second virus wave or a re-strengthening first wave may well slow its jobs rebound going forward, since U.S.-based industry sells so much to those domestic service industries that have borne the brunt of the pandemic-created economic damage. At the same time, domestic manufacturers were selling just under 18 percent of their gross output overseas as of the end of last year, so if recoveries quicken overseas, U.S.-based manufacturers and their workers could benefit significantly.

In this vein, one possibly hopeful sign is that as of May, according to this morning’s monthly U.S. trade report from the Census Bureau, manufacturing exports are down a whopping 15.74 percent year-to-date. And they fell 5.28 percent in May alone. Therefore, precisely because the “comps” have been so lousy, domestic manufacturers could experience something of a rubber-band-like bounceback of their own – at least in the near-term future.

(What’s Left of) Our Economy: A Rosier May U.S. Jobs Picture – Including for Manufacturing

Tags

CCP Virus, coronavirus, COVID 19, Jobs, Labor Department, manufacturing, nonfarm jobs, private sector, reopening, Wuhan virus, {What's Left of) Our Economy

As of this morning’s stunning U.S. employment report from the Labor Department (for May), it looks like I’m wrong on the strength and speed of the recovery from the nation’s CCP Virus-induced recession. And I couldn’t be happier. (See here for my most recent forecast.)

What’s also critically important to note is that the announcement that the economy last month created a net new 2.51 million jobs over April’s levels seems to belie warnings that reopening the economy sooner rather than later would bring disastrous public health consequences – even with considerable social distancing, mask-wearing, and other protective measures. But the economic shutdowns began to be lifted in late April, and here it is early June, and no new spikes in virus infections, hospitalizations, and deaths have been recorded.

Further, strong reasons can be cited for believing that payrolls improvement will continue, at least until the arrival of a notable second wave, assuming one’s coming. For as usual, the May jobs report is based on the mid-month situation. One possible cause for concern, though: The response rates of the businesses and households surveyed remain lower than they were before the pandemic struck. So it’s possible that considerable economic distress is being missed.by the Labor Department’s canvassers.

All the same, let’s not pretend that the employment picture is anywhere close to good or even acceptable. The unemployment rate remains at an horrendous 13.3 percent, and non-farm payrolls (the Labor Department’s definition of the U.S. jobs universe) are still down by fully 17.67 million year-on-year.

Moreover, the new upswing is starting from a lower baseline than originally reported, for March net jobs losses are now pegged at 1.37 million, not the 701,000 first estimated, and April’s decrease has been revised from 20.50 million to 20.69 million.

Just for comparison’s sake, job losses during the Great Recession that followed the 2007-08 financial crisis totaled 8.69 million (from December, 2007 through February, 2010). And pre-recession employment levels weren’t regained until May, 2014. The very speed and strength of the latest jobs nosedive could mean that the employment recovery will be notably faster – as perhaps indicated by this morning’s data. But there’s also much more ground to be made up.

Interestingly, the CCP Virus impact on manufacturing remains smaller than on the rest of the economy. True, on a percentage basis, industry’s month-to-month jobs comeback (225,000 in absolute terms) was less on a percentage basis (1.96 percent) than that of the private sector overall (2.86 percent) – although slighly higher than that of the total economy (1.92 percent, a figure that of course includes hard-hit state and local governments).

But that’s partly because the manufacturing payrolls slump has been somewhat milder. The sector’s March employment losses have been upwardly revised from an originally reported 18,000 to 46,000. But last month’s initial April estimate of a 1.33 million jobs decline is now judged to be a slightly better 1.32 million.

Since February, therefore, whereas the total economy has shed 12.82 percent of its payrolls and the private sector 13.87 percent, manufacturing employment is off by 9.78 percent.

Let’s not be pollyannish, though. From its pre-Great Recession level to the trough, manufacturing lost 2.293 million jobs. And even at their peak during the pre-virus recovery (last December), only 61.71 percent had been regained.

That is, thanks to the CCP Virus, both the U.S. economy overall and its manufacturing sector remain awfully sick on the employment front.

(What’s Left of) Our Economy: Picking Through the April Jobs Wreckage Details

Tags

Employment, Great Depression, Great Recession, Jobs, Labor Department, manufacturing, NFP, non-farm jobs, non-farm payrolls, private sector, unemployment, {What's Left of) Our Economy

Today’s U.S. jobs report from the Labor Department (for April) is the first that makes fully (so far) clear the historic American employment disaster created by a combination of the CCP Virus and widespread economic shutdown and lockdown orders.

As widely observed already, the 14.9 percent national unemployment rate for the month is the highest suffered since the Great Depression of the 1930s. During this slump, (which, it can never be forgotten, helped pave the way for World War II), the annual jobless rate peaked in 1933 at 24.9 percent. Moreover, as always with these monthly jobs releases, the data only cover mid-month. So the May report will almost surely bring considerably worse new April revisions, just as the April report showed sharp downward revisions for March and even February.

Worse, as the Labor Department employment trackers observed, in April they were able to reach only about 70 percent of the number of households they tried contacting in their standard efforts to calculate that unemployment rate. They pre-virus response rate was 83 percent. And although it’s entirely possible that this weak response rate has overestimated unemployment, it could be producing an underestimate, too.

That big uncertainty aside, the revisions are a good place to start highlighting how the details of today’s numbers underscore what an unprecedented shock the economy is absorbing.

Principally, that March total plunge in non-farm payrolls (NFP, the Labor Department’s U.S. jobs universe) was first reported at 701,000 – a figure that was (sadly) exceeded four times during the Great Recession that followed the 2008-09 financial crisis. Now these March losses are pegged at 870,000 – much higher than the Great Recession peak of 784,000 in January, 2009. April, of course, has blown away such comparisons, as NFP plummeted by 20.50 million. Indeed, that’s the largest monthly decrease in absolute terms in the history of these Labor Department data, which go back to 1939.

As a result, U.S. employment levels are back to where they were in February, 2011 – meaning that more than nine years of jobs gains have just gone up in smoke.

In fact, those 20.500 million net jobs destroyed in April alone (again, this is a preliminary number, which will be re-estimated twice more in the next two months, and then again when Labor issues the next of its standard multi-year revisions) represent more than twice as much employment loss as that experienced during the entire Great Recession (whose jobs dimension lasted from December, 2007 until March, 2010) – 8.698 million.

As for the private sector, the initially reported March jobs collapse of 713,000 was topped five times during the Great Recession. But this morning’s new March jobs wipeout figure of 812,000 now matches that recession’s worst (hit in April, 2009). Tragically, the new April private sector job loss figure of 19.520 million makes even those dreadful numbers look positively quaint.

Oddly, even though its April monthly job loss was 1.33 million, manufacturing has continued to hold up relatively well so far during the CCP Virus crisis. Industry’s March payroll decline was revised down from 18,000 to 34,000. And the April figure was much worse than manufacturing’s worst month during the Great Recession (289,000, recorded for January, 2009). Moreover, the 1.330 million April manufacturing employment nosedive was more than half of the total manufacturing job decrease during the entire Great Recession (2.293 million).

All the same, since February, whereas total U.S. job totals are off by 14.02 percent since February, and private sector employment has fallen by 15.70 percent, manufacturing’s drop has been 11.87 percent.

Once more, this relatively bright picture could change either with next month’s NFP report, or relatively quickly thereafter, as the economy reopens. But it’s also important to keep in mind that the pre-Great Recession total U.S. employment peak of 138.392 million in December, 2007 wasn’t matched again until May, 2014. It took until March, 2014 for the private sector to regain its pre-recession employment peak of 116.060 million. And manufacturing has never regained its pre-recession level of 13.746 million – which itself was far from a peak, because its payrolls had been decreasing for decades. The best it did was to regain 1.413 million (61.62 percent) of the 2.293 million jobs lost during the Great Recession. This level was hit just last December.

And all these recoveries were reasonably “V-shaped” (that is rapid), by historical standards. Unfortunately, “V” seems to be a letter going out of style as economists struggle to figure out what the post-CCP Virus recovery will look like.