The Gold Standard  

 (1) The jump in the average and median duration of unemployment is big:

 Average duration of unemployment is now 24.5 weeks (up from 22.5 weeks in May) and the median duration is now 17.9 weeks (up from 14.9 weeks in May).  ‘Duration of unemployment’ is what it is: number of weeks some one remains unemployed once laid-off.

 (2) The declines in the employment-population ratio and the labour force participation rate continue:

Participation rate is now at 65.7% down from 65.9% in May. Employment – Population Ratio is now at 59.5%

 Number of workers leaving the labour force keeps rising.

 (3) U6 unemployment rate is now at 16.5% – up from 16.4% in May while the official unemployment rate is up at 9.5%. U6 rate is to be found in Table A-8 of the employment report. It simply counts all those who want and can work full time but cannot find full-time are counted as unemployed, regardless of whether they were looking for a job in the survey period.

 (4) The drop in the aggregate hours worked is jaw-dropping! It has dropped from 99.8 in May to 99.0 in June. There is a need for consenus opinion to revise the 2Q GDP growth estimate lower, I think.

 (5) There is no estimate yet of the positive contribution that has been made by the statistical Birth/Death model of job creation by net new businesses. In April and May, this model made significant contributions – without any relation to reality – to the employment report.

 (6) The diffusion index of employment (no. of industries creating jobs) has also rolled over after making a feeble recovery attempt in the last two months.

This news on California potentialy forced to issue IOUs is big too.