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Thursday, March 26, 2015 2:17 AM


Jobs and Employment: How Much Recession Warning Can One Expect?


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Watching the Wrong Things

Many market watchers have their eye on jobs and the unemployment rate as the determinant of when the Fed will hike.

Let's investigate the wisdom of that approach with actual data.

I downloaded seasonally adjusted employment and jobs data for the last five recessions from the BLS. Because the recessions start in different months, use of seasonally adjusted data is mandatory for this exercise.

My focus is on jobs and employment in the period three months prior to the recession to three months after the recession.

I used the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) report on US Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions as the official arbiter as to when recessions begin.

Jobs are from the Establishment Survey. Employment is from the Household Survey. Results are similar.

Recessions vs. Employment (in Thousands)

Recession DateEmploy -3 MonthsEmploy -2 MonthsEmploy -1 MonthsEmploy -0 MonthsEmploy +1 MonthsEmploy +2 MonthsEmploy +3 MonthsPeak Employment
1980-0199,40499,57499,93399,87999,99599,71399,2331 Month Later
1981-07101,056101,048100,298100,693100,689100,064100,3781 Month Later
1990-07118,852119,151118,983118,810118,802118,524118,5361 Month Prior
2001-03137,614137,778137,612137,783137,299137,092136,873Recession Start
2007-12146,244145,946146,595146,273146,378146,156146,0861 Month Prior


Recessions vs. Jobs (in Thousands)

Recession DateJobs -3 MonthsJobs -2 MonthsJobs -1 MonthsJobs -0 MonthsJobs +1 MonthsJobs +2 MonthsJobs +3 MonthsPeak Jobs
1980-0190,48290,57690,67390,80290,88290,99490,8502 Months Later
1981-0791,28391,29391,49091,60291,56691,47991,380Recession Start
1990-07109,687109,839109,862109,834109,613109,525109,3661 Month Prior
2001-03132,723132,696132,767132,742132,460132,422132,2911 Month Prior
2007-12138,053138,136138,253138,350138,365138,278138,1991 Month Later


How Much Warning Can One Expect?

The answer is clearly none.

In the previous five recessions, jobs peaked two months after the start of the recession once, one month later once, one month prior twice, and once during the recession month.

In the previous five recessions, employment peaked one month after the start of the recession twice, one month prior twice, and once during the recession month.

The NBER says the last US recession started in December of 2007 and lasted until  June of 2009. Let's take a closer look at stats from that recession.

2007-2009 Recession Stats

  • Jobs were higher three months after the recession started than two months before the recession started.
  • Jobs were higher two months after the recession started than one month before.
  • Employment was higher three months after the recession started than two months before.
  • Employment was higher two months after the recession started than one month before.

In the last recession, jobs and employment did not provide a clear signal for months.

Negative Data Pours In

With the exceptions of jobs, most other data has been negative.


Economists keep watching jobs, a lagging indicator, somehow convinced that jobs tell the story of what the Fed is about to do. Such a focus is complete silliness. When it's clear that jobs have turned, the economy will likely be in recession.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

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