The Department of Labor Statistics released a jobs report for April that showed employment numbers are much lower than expected. Employers added only 120,000 jobs in March, a figure below even the lowest estimates that economists had made. In February, there had been an increase of 227,000 jobs. March added the fewest jobs in five months. The significant drop in additional jobs raised a lot of concern.
Economists were surprised to see numbers that were so far below their predictions and it has made people question the economic recovery.
“You wonder what’s going on when the predictions of top economists, for the worst possible scenario, turn out to be better than the reality. How could estimates be so wrong?” said Max Fels, a graduate student.
This is definitely a question many people would like to have answer. Realistically, any economic recovery is going to be a slow process, but there has been a general feeling that things really aren’t improving as expected.
“I’m honestly not reading too much into it,” said Frank Swain, associate with Quinn Gillespie & Associates. “As long as unemployment continues to drop, we’re headed in the right direction. It’s still progress.”
The jobs estimate did show that the unemployment rate fell from 8.3 percent to 8.2 percent. Many believe that the decrease in unemployment is not because more people have jobs, but because people have become so discouraged that they’ve left the workforce. Even those that are employed are earning less per week, and working fewer hours.
“You can’t help but be discouraged by these kinds of statistics,” said Fels, “I always hoped that by the time I graduate college the market will have bounced back. It’s becoming clear that isn’t realistic.”