March Jobs Data worse than expected – a rise of 162,000 jobs, 48,000 Census

Markets are closed today for Good Friday. Bond pit is open.

Wow, they only added 48,000 Census jobs? No wonder I didn’t get a call, I only got one wrong on the test and expected a call but I wanted an office spot and not canvassing,( Mr MiM worries), and I do not speak Spanish so I figured maybe I missed that boat…maybe not, what with them only hiring 48,000 in March…they are expected to hire like a million peeps.

…About 48,000 temporary workers for the decennial census were hired last month, while private payrolls jumped 123,000, the highest since May 2007.

“The real surprise is the low number of census and temp workers, slightly more than half of the 162,000 gain in March,” said Todd Schoenberger, Managing Director LandColt Trading. “Traders and investors will se e this as a good sign once they digest the figures over the weekend because permanent hiring was much better-than-anticipated.”…

Construction finally added jobs, first time since like June of 07, 15,000. Bad news is the ‘long term unemployed’ rose another 400k, look for that next UE extension to be costly…

MiM still expects a double dip and stagnant hiring in the face of the anti growth government policies and taxation that D.C. continues to pump out…

Like Frankie Vallie says, Hang in there everybody, only a few months til a new Congress and only 2 years til a new POTUS…

CNBC:

…Employers added 162,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, leaving the unemployment rate steady at 9.7 percent for the third straight month.

The payrolls increase was the largest since March 2007, and also reflected temporary hiring for the census….

…”This is a half-full, half-empty report,” Pimco’s Mohamed El-Erian told CNBC shortly after the jobs numbers were released. “The amount of long-term unemployed continues to go up.”

“The question is: Is it sustainable?” El-Erian added, referring to the economic recovery. “That question is going to play out over the rest of the year.”

Payroll figures for January were revised to show a 14,000 gain, while February was adjusted to show only a loss of 14,000.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected non-farm payrolls to rise 190,000 last month and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 9.7 percent.

The median projection from the 20 economists who have forecast payrolls most accurately over the past year predicted 200,000 jobs were created in March….

…In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing added 17,000 jobs in March and construction payrolls grew 15,000. Payrolls in the services sector increased as retail employment climbed 14,900. Government employment increased 39,000, reflecting the temporary hiring for the census.

April 2, 2010. Tags: census hiring, March Jobs number, March UE, March Unemployment data, The 4 Seasons, Unemployment. Economy, Finance, Labor Department, Obama Administration, Politics, Taxes, Unemployment Statistics, Wall St. Comments off.