The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that "Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 165,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 7.5%." The BLS also reported the following information on the number of hours worked: "The average workweek for all employees on private no-farm payrolls decreased by 0.2 hour in April to 34.4 hours." Now, why is the decrease in the number of hours significant? Thanks to Karl Denninger over at the Market Ticker, he explains the decrease in hours worked this way: " If we look at the "employed" figure of 143,724,000 people, a drop of 0.2 hours is a full-time-equivalent decrease of 1/2% (.2/40 hour work week = .005). Applied to the employed population, this amounts to an imputed economic decrease of 718,620 jobs (143,724,000 x .005)!" He further mentions that this is a huge problem going forward, because the trend of cutting hours back to get under Obamacare limits (30 hours) is picking up steam and will continue for the rest of 2013 and into 2014.
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