Weekly Market Update by Retirement Lifestyle Advocates

          For many years I have written about how economic data is often ‘massaged” (or manipulated?) to make the reported numbers look more favorable.

          This is true of the reported inflation rate, the reported unemployment rate, and the money supply.

          Now, it seems that there is extreme manipulation as far as the jobs report is concerned.  This from Michael Snyder (Source:  http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/dont-be-stupid-the-u-s-economy-actually-lost-2-5-million-jobs-last-month/):

I can’t take it anymore. Fake numbers that are released by the government get turned into fake news by the corporate media, and many Americans don’t even realize that they are being conned. Major news outlets all over the country are breathlessly trumpeting the “blockbuster jobs report” as if it is a sign from heaven that good economic times are ahead. We are being told that the U.S. economy added 517,000 jobs last month, but that isn’t true. Sadly, the truth is that the U.S. economy actually lost 2.5 million jobs in January. Yes, you read that correctly. So how in the world does a loss of 2.5 million jobs become a “gain” of 517,000 jobs? Every month, government bureaucrats apply “adjustments” to the numbers that they believe are appropriate, and at this point their “adjustments” have become so absurd that they have turned the monthly employment report into a total farce.

As I have been documenting on my website for weeks, there has been a tremendous wave of layoffs over the last several months.

Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Lyft, Twitter, Walmart, McDonald’s, FedEx and countless other large corporations have decided to conduct mass layoffs.

But now the government expects us to believe that the U.S. economy is actually adding jobs at a very brisk pace?

That doesn’t make any sense at all.

Unfortunately, the corporate media is totally buying it. For example, CNBC just posted an article that described the jobs report as “stunningly strong”…

The employment picture started off 2023 on a stunningly strong note, with nonfarm payrolls posting their biggest gain since July 2022.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 517,000 for January, above the Dow Jones estimate of 187,000 and December’s gain of 260,000, according to a Labor Department report Friday.

And a CNN article has quoted one expert as saying that “the labor market is more like a bullet train”…

“With 517,000 new jobs added in January 2023 and the unemployment rate at 3.4%, this is a blockbuster report demonstrating that the labor market is more like a bullet train,” Becky Frankiewicz, president and chief commercial officer of ManpowerGroup, said Friday.

Really?

After all of the layoffs that we have witnessed in recent months, does she really believe that?

Not to be outdone, Moody’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi boldly declared that any concerns about a coming recession “should be completely dashed by these numbers”…

The January jobs report should “dash” concerns of recession, Moody’s chief economist said Friday, but warned that the numbers may overstate job growth.

“Any concern the economy is in recession or close to a recession should be completely dashed by these numbers,” Moody’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi told CNN’s Matt Egan on Friday, adding that it would take “an awful lot” to send the US economy into a downturn.

The U.S. economy did not add 517,000 jobs last month.

That is the “adjusted” number.

The “unadjusted” number actually shows that the U.S. economy lost 2.5 million jobs last month. The following comes from Bloomberg…

For the establishment survey, the government’s updated seasonal factors may have impacted the headline payrolls figure. On an unadjusted basis, payrolls actually fell by 2.5 million last month.

That is actually what was measured.

But if you brazenly add more than 3 million jobs to the report that simply do not exist, it makes it look like the U.S. economy is doing just great.

          As we near the end of February, there have been even more layoffs announced.  (Source:  https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/after-worst-january-job-cuts-great-recession-here-are-12-major-layoffs-have)

#1 Disney has decided to tell approximately 7,000 employees to hit the bricks…

“We will be reducing our workforce by approximately 7,000 jobs,” CEO Bob Iger said during the company’s first quarter earnings call. “While this is necessary to address the challenges we’re facing today, I do not make this decision lightly. I have enormous respect and appreciation for the talent and dedication of our employees worldwide, and I’m mindful of the personal impact of these changes.”

#2 Yahoo has announced that it will be laying off “more than 20% of its workforce”…

Yahoo will lay off more than 20% of its workforce by the end of 2023, eliminating 1,000 positions this week alone, the company said in a statement Thursday.

#3 Ebay was doing quite well, but now they have decided that 4 percent of their workers are no longer needed…

Ebay on Tuesday announced plans to cut 500 jobs, or about 4% of its workforce, according to a filing with the SEC.

#4 Affirm is yet another tech company that has recently made a decision to conduct mass layoffs…

Affirm announced it’s cutting 19% of its workforce Wednesday. The news came as it reported second quarter earnings that fell below analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

#5 As the U.S. housing crash deepens, JPMorgan Chase has concluded that now is the time to “cut hundreds of mortgage employees”…

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut hundreds of mortgage employees this week, adding to job losses across the industry as home-lending businesses continue to be hurt by elevated interest rates.

#6 GoDaddy just let their workers know that they plan to “reduce the size of our global team by about 8%”…

Today, we are announcing a plan to reduce the size of our global team by about 8%. This will come as difficult news for many valued and respected GoDaddy team members.

#7 Micron is one of the biggest private employers in Idaho, but now it intends to “reduce its global headcount by about 10% over the next year”…

Micron has begun laying off workers, a spokesperson for the company told the Idaho Statesman.

The news marks the beginning of the company’s plan to reduce its global headcount by about 10% over the next year. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra announced during a quarterly conference call with investors in December that the company is taking significant steps to reduce costs and operating expenses as demand for its principal products wanes.

#8 GitHub has become yet another victim of the downsizing trend in the tech industry…

Microsoft-owned GitHub is laying off 10% of its staff, the company confirmed to Fortune.

#9 Nomad Health just laid off approximately 20 percent of their entire corporate workforce…

Nomad Health, a healthcare staffing startup, laid off around 20% of its corporate workforce this week, according to four terminated employees, as the surge in travel nurses and other temporary healthcare workers ignited by the pandemic cools down.

#10 Zoom is giving the axe to approximately 1,300 workers…

Zoom on Tuesday said it will lay off about 1,300 employees, or approximately 15% of its staff, becoming the latest tech company to announce significant job cuts as a pandemic-fueled surge in demand for digital services wanes.

#11 Boeing was supposedly going to be hiring more workers, but instead the company just announced that thousands of positions in finance and human resources will be eliminated…

“We expect about 2,000 reductions this year primarily in Finance and HR through a combination of attrition and layoffs,” Boeing confirmed Monday.

#12 Do you remember when Dell computers were still popular? Unfortunately, the tide has turned and now Dell has been forced to get rid of 6,650 workers…

Dell Technologies Inc. is eliminating about 6,650 roles as it faces plummeting demand for personal computers, becoming the latest technology company to announce thousands of job cuts.

          Despite reports to the contrary, the labor market is not healthy.

 

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          The radio program this week is a ‘best of’ program featuring an interview with Dr. Charles Nenner.

Dr. Nenner is a highly regarded cycles analyst, and I get his forecast for markets moving ahead based on his cycles research. If you have not yet had a chance to listen, you can do so now by clicking on the "Podcast" tab at the top of this page.

 

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