by Michael Pento
FX Street
US corporations’ hiring plans last year totaled 769,953 workers, the fewest since 2015, according to the labor research firm Challenger, Grey, and Christmas. Private sector data shows that the need to hire new employees for all of last year was the lowest in nearly a decade. The ADP report showed that there were just 122k jobs created in December. We also have the private data from the Institute of Supply Management. The ISM manufacturing survey showed the employment subcomponent was 45.3, which means employment is in contraction and contracting faster. Also, the ISM service sector survey showed that job growth was barely in expansion territory at 51.4.
But then we have the official government information coming from the Labor Department. Initial jobless claims and the monthly Non-farm Payroll report have been remarkable pieces of misdirection and fiction. The benign initial claims figures could result from fewer people being hired, so fewer people are eligible to file unemployment insurance claims. However, what is the excuse behind the constant need to adjust the initial NFP report number lower, which will surely be the case once again for the December figure?