Job Loss Statistics
The media is buzzing this morning about job loss statistics because the BLS is estimating we lost 598,000 jobs in January. This, according to the press, is the worst in 34 years, since December of 1974.It’s bad. I’m not saying it isn’t bad. But the tendency for the press is to jump to historic conclusions. And the more historic the better.But the statistical fact is that it is only the worst since 1974 in terms of the raw number of jobs lost.Just like currency, the statistical value of a job is related to the overall number of jobs in the economy. And like currency, that number changes. So instead of looking at raw number of jobs lost and instead looking at that number as a percentage of the total jobs that were available, we see that may of 1980 was actually worse than January 2009. As were both January and February of 1975.So while it’s bad … it ain’t that bad yet. Here’s a table with the numbers as a percentage. Note that since we’re measuring job losses, positives are losses and negatives actually represent job growth. I’ve highlighted the months with pct losses greater than January 2009. http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pRjgr4UnWRpA4b2Hh0Dq4RwBLS source data
Comment by Beasleys Brother on 6 February 2009:
Ok. It is bad as I have EVER seen it. I can not even get a temp job right now. That is how scary it is. No one wants to act. It is as though everyone is suffering from PTSD or something from the events of October.