Bottom Line:

Some sections of the economy appear to be doing quite well, but most of the growth appears to be in the lower-paying jobs. The Katrina situation has apparently worsened just in time for the 2006 hurricane season, and the national debt is at record levels as gasoline prices increase dramatically. So, the future doesn't look very rosy for anyone, except maybe the oil industry with their fat tax subsidies. Too bad that money wasn't spent on alternate fuel development so we can end our "addiction" to oil and grow technology, capabilities, and employment in other areas of our economy.

Unemployment Rate Basically Unchanged So Far in 2006

Things don't look too bad, unless you're one of the people who doesn't have a job. Assuming that we can trust the U.S. Department of Labor's reports, the official Unemployment Rate for "non-farm workers" was back down to 4.7% for March. In December, 2005, it was 4.9%. Then, it dropped to 4.7% in January and rose slightly to 4.8% in February.

Some Job Growth Continued

The number of jobs added to the nation's payrolls slowed down to 211,000 (vs. 243,000 added in February). The growth continued in the services sector with the greatest gains in the leisure and hospitality industry (mostly jobs in restaurants and bars, where salaries are traditionally low), retail trades industry (mostly in large stores, also typically low-paying jobs), and health care industry (primarily hospitals and "ambulatory health care" where salaries are better). Employment in financial services also grew, particularly in the credit data collecting and reporting industry and insurance companies. Not surprisingly, considering the tax breaks recently handed to the oil industry by the Bush Administration, 6,000 jobs were added in mining "support activities" - mostly those related to oil and gas.

Breakdown by Age, Gender, and Race

The unemployment rate for teenagers continued to climb, now at 15.7%, up from 15.4% in February. The rate for teenages has gotten worse every month so far this year. The situation for whites and Hispanic/Latino workers improved slightly while that for blacks remained the same. The breakdown of unemployment in the official data is interesting, if only as a general indicator of trends.

    Age and Gender:

All workers:    4.7% - March; 4.8% - February; 4.7% - January

Adult men:     4.1% - March; 4.2% - February; 4.0% - January

Adult women: 4.1% - March; 4.3% - February; 4.3% - January

Teenagers:     15.7% - March; 15.4% - February; 15.3% - January

    Race:

Asians:           3.4% - March (only 2006 data); 3.8% - December ("not seasonaly adjusted")

Whites:           4.0% - March; 4.1% - February; 4.1% - January

Hispanics or Latinos: 5.4% - March; 5.5% - February; 5.8% - January

Blacks:          9.3% - March; 9.3% - February; 8.9% - January

Unemployment by Length of Time Unemployed:

The average length of time that people are unemployed in March, 2006, is shorter than it was in March, 2005.

Of all those unemployed,

                                March, 2006        March, 2005

Less than 5 weeks         38.1%                28.5%

5 to 14 weeks                28.6%                32.0%

15 to 26 weeks              14.9%                18.1%

27 weeks and over         18.4%                21.5%

Katrina Effect Worsens:

Of the approximately 1,000,000 people (16 and over) evacuated as a result of Katrina, 56% were back in the labor force, but nearly 50% of them still had not yet returned to their pre-Katrina homes.

In March, the Katrina victims still displaced from their homes had an unemployment rate of 34.7% - more than a 12% increase from the February level of 22.6%!

In March, Katrin victims who were able to move back home had an unemployment rate of 5.3%, up from the 4.8% level of February (which was nearly twice as bad as the January rate of 2.9%!).

So, their situation appears to be getting worse, not better, as the unemployment rate increases!

On Friday, April 7, 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor issued their report on the "Employment Situation: March, 2006" which has all the data you might ever want on this subject.