Job Numbers Crush Expectations After Warnings of Recession

     The stock markets might be a little skittish, but you can’t blame employment for that.

 

     A Labor Department release November 2 showed a gain of 166,000 jobs in October and an unemployment rate that held steady at 4.7 percent for the second month in a row.

 

     According to the Associated Press, “it’s a figure that is considered low by historical standards.”

 

     But prior to that announcement, in the wake of a 362-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on November 1, two of the network newscasts – “CBS Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News” focused on “grim economic stats,” threat of recession and stressed the importance of the unreleased jobs number.

 

     “[O]n top of that, there are rising concerns about the U.S. economy,” CNBC’s Erin Burnett said on the November 1 “Nightly News.” “Investors are worried about us, American consumers. Energy prices are surging, housing prices are falling, recession is an increasing risk. And Brian, that is why tomorrow morning’s report on how many Americans have jobs will be one of the most important economic headlines in quite some time.”

 

     CBS correspondent Anthony Mason even warned if lower than expected jobs numbers were reported, we would really see how bad the housing woes impacted the U.S. economy.

 

     “[I]t’s a very nervous market, and it could move sharply again tomorrow, Katie, when unemployment numbers come out, and we’ll get a sense of whether they’re infecting –whether housing is infecting the rest of the economy,” Mason said on the November 1 “CBS Evening News.”

 

     But, as it turned out – the job numbers doubled predictions.

 

     “[W]hat we are expecting to see there is 80,000 new jobs created, which by the way is not enough new jobs, but that’s what we’re expecting,” said CNN Business Reporter Ali Velshi said November 2 “American Morning” before the numbers were released. “We’re expecting the unemployment rate to stay at 4.7 [percent].”

 

     So with the sound job numbers, does that means the fears of a recession resulting from housing troubles and energy prices are lessened? An initial report from Wall Street suggested as much.

 

     “[E]verybody’s talking about the jobs report,” CNBC Business Reporter Bob Pisani said from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” November 2. “Look, they got what they wanted. Twice the [job number] estimates here. The recession fears fading a little bit.”