Employment Improving; Hope on Horizon for Rates

The latest Labor Stats are out and they look pretty good, or at least a lot better than they looked two years ago. The Bureau of Labor statistics reported that non-farm payroll increased by 216,000 in March 2011, bringing the unemployment rate down to 8.8%. As the chart below shows, unemployment has been slowly edging down since peaking at 10% in 2009. Still, there is a long way down to go.

So, is there any change that rates will go up anytime soon? Maybe. But as the chart shows, there needs to be a lot more improvement before that maybe becomes a yes. I'm skeptical with big cuts coming in the public sector that unemployment is going to head significantly down anytime soon.