Payroll gains totaled a gain of just 69k, well below expectations of 150k and the two prior months were revised lower by 49k. The private sector added only 82k, half of what was expected. The unemployment rate ticked up to 8.2% from 8.1% as the gain of 422k in the household survey (a bright spot in the report) was more than offset by a gain of 642k in the size of the labor force. The U6 rose to 14.8% from 14.5% and the Avg Workweek fell .1 to 34.4. Avg hourly earnings rose just a .1% m/o/m and 1.7% y/o/y. The Labor force participation rate did rise to 63.8% from 63.6% which was the lowest since 1981. The avg duration of unemployment rose to 39.7 weeks from 39.1. As seen in ADP, services provided all the net jobs as the goods producing sector fell by 15k led by construction. Mfr’g added 12k jobs. All levels of government shed a net 13k jobs. Bottom line, weak is the word and whether weather give back or not (Nov thru Mar avg 211k job gains), the economy has cleared lost steam in a variety of data points and while gold reversed hard to the upside on the belief that Bernanke & Co. will do something more, the bond market has dramatically eased for him already. What he will learn though at some point is the cost of money has stopped mattering for a while in a deleveraging world.
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