Withered shoots within the May jobs report

Richard Moody of Forward Capital sees withered shoots within the May jobs report. He points out that 52.9% of the unemployed last month were so because they lost their jobs permanently, the highest figure in the life of the data. “This is one sign that the current recession has generated a considerable degree of structural, as opposed to cyclical, unemployment, reflecting the amount of excess capacity that had developed in the economy over recent years. Even as the economy recovers, these displaced workers will likely be unemployed for a prolonged period,” he writes.