Posted by
Contrarian Guitarist on Thursday, June 12, 2008 8:50:12 PM
The May '08 unemployment numbers though large were heavily skewed by new job seekers. Not technically un-employed more like not-yet-employed. From
this article...
"The number of unemployed increased by 861,000 in May, the third-largest monthly increase since the US Labor Department started collecting figures in 1948 and more than 60% was accounted for by new entrants and those re-entering the workforce, with the bulk of the new workers in the 16 to 24 bracket."
Probably will see it downwardly revised in the coming weeks and relatively unreported. And will drift down more in the late Summer early Fall.
Remember unemployment was 7.5% in May of 1980 and stayed there until around the Winter of '81. Inflation was around 12% during that same time. Prime interest rate peaked at 21.5% later in 1982. Loved my money market fund then.