The Job market appears in flux, adding only 51,000 Jobs in September. It is my Thought that the revised estimate will be a further decline, unlike August and July, though Retailers will begin hiring for the Christmas season to come next month. A lot of Job losses were concentrated in the end of September, and probably came from the closing Tourist season. An Associated Press report cites that Consumers' feelings about current conditions dropped 20 points (hint: September readings were upwardly skewed, and October's are likely low, it depends on who is polled). A second measure detailing Consumer response to buying, saving, and investment(the economic Mechanic's scale) showed a drop from 110 in September to 87.2 in October. This is a more serious measure to be falling, but reflects difficulty of Investment decisions when the Stock market is already high, early Shoppers finding Christmas Goods higher in Price, Interest rates frozen and not really high enough yet for retirement plan investment.
One Reuters report lists average hourly Wages to have risen 4% year-over-year for both August and September, and that hours worked only dropped 0.2 to 41.1 hours in the manufacturing workweek. The average Workweek overall stood unchanged at 33.8 hours in September. Shortage of Orders has not yet trickled to the plant floors, though can be expected to show up in October. The United Steelworkers striking Good Year remains a very sour note on the horizon, as the Company wants to close three more plants, down from the current 14. Aircraft and Defense purchase will not soften coming Readings. lgl
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