Rate of productivity growth- 2.5% in Q2 - was the slowest since late 2002

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm

Productivity and Costs, Second Quarter 2004, Revised
USDL 04-1727 SEPTEMBER 2, 2004

PRODUCTIVITY AND COSTS
Second Quarter 2004


The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today
reported revised productivity data--as measured by output per hour of all
persons--for the second quarter of 2004. The seasonally adjusted annual
rates of productivity change in the second quarter were:

1.5 percent in the business sector and
2.5 percent in the nonfarm business sector.

In both sectors, increases in productivity were smaller than reported on
Aug. 10, as output was revised down and hours were revised up. (See
table C.)

==============================================================

so Jobless claims jumped to 362,000 last week, above forecasts; while productivity cut, more than forecast.

Indeed Bloomberg headlined at 8 am this morning that Jobless Claims Probably Fell to 340,000, the Fourth Decline in Five Weeks-The number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment benefits may have dropped last week to 340,000, a level consistent with enough job growth to sustain the economic expansion, economists forecast ahead of today's government report.

Guess they were wrong about jobs.

And the rate of productivity growth was the slowest since late 2002 with nonfarm output per worker hour growing at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, down from the 2.9 percent pace initially reported last month and the slowest clip since the fourth quarter of 2002's 1.6 percent rate.

Indeed the 8 am guess for productivity was a 2.7 percent rate, down from the first qtr's 3.7 percent annual clip - but then we work more for less as hours worked rose at a 1.0 percent clip, up from 0.8 percent in the original estimate, and Unit labor costs were revised down in the report. Costs gained at a 1.8 percent pace, off slightly from the 1.9 percent rate seen in the initial report. First-quarter unit labor costs were revised sharply lower, to falling at 1.6 percent rate from rising at a 0.3 percent pace in the previous report.

In the week ending Aug. 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 343,000 and - surprise - for the week ending Aug. 21, the advance figure is also the final figure for that week!

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm
September 2, 2004 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Aug. 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 362,000, an increase of 19,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 343,000. The 4-week moving average was 343,000, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 336,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending Aug. 21, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.3 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Aug. 21 was 2,882,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,887,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,887,250, a decrease of 4,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,892,000.


UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 276,601 in the week ending Aug. 28, an increase of 3,805 from the previous week. There were 319,362 initial claims in the comparable week in 2003.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent during the week ending Aug. 21, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,631,147, a decrease of 70,724 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.6 percent and the volume was 3,252,130.

Or will he steer clear of the economy and jobs?

No matter how bad Bush has done - others would have done worse

It's a tough job and he has done great, given the situation!

Put you boots on - the lies will flow tonight - and Russert will be out front telling you or implying that they are not lies.

Except for FDR, who inherited the Great Depression, no President inherited a recession that continued for another four years.

It's true that after the Clinton boom years a recession was inevitable. It happened at the end of Clinton's tenure. However, it wasn't the Great Depression (and still isn't); any competent management of the economy would have put an end to it long ago.

The only thing in which Bush is interested is cutting taxes for his rich cronies. There's a recession? We need to stimulate the economy -- cut taxes for potential investors. There's an economic upturn? Upper-end tax cuts are working; we need more of them.

It's just a lot of baloney. Clinton's tax cuts targeted at the middle class and fiscal discipline, keeping interest rates down, were the keys to the good times of the nineties. This has been undone by a reckless agenda of tax cuts.

that the American people KNOW when the economy took a shit. They know when they lost their jobs and when their neighbors lost jobs and how long it's been since they lost them.

The timing of this news, as bad as the news itself is, is great and any decent news agency (we know how rare those are) would be covering it extensively.

This will damage Bush. He may have turned a corner, but it was a U-turn and now he's going backwards.