How The West Was Saved

165,000 jobs added. Unemployment down to 4.1%. Sounds like a great jobs report, provided you stop reading after the first paragraph. Let's break down the story being told about these numbers. 356,000 more Americans are working part-time because business slowed and their employers don't have enough hours for them. They want full-time work. It's the biggest one-month jump in that category all year. The number of people who "could only find part-time work" barely moved. Nearly the entire increase came from people whose hours were cut because business was slow. Rank-and-file private-sector workers are averaging 33.8 hours a week. A raise looks awfully nice on paper until the hours disappear. Now look at the hiring. Temp agencies added 18,600 jobs. That's more than a quarter of the 70,000 jobs added in professional and business services, the sector that led the report. How convenient. Hire people without making much of a long-term commitment. Keep the flexibility to send them packing when business gets uncomfortable. The broader U-6 unemployment rate rose to 7.9%, even as the headline rate fell. That broader measure includes people who want full-time work but can't get it, along with people on the margins of the labor force. Employers are adding temporary workers while more Americans are stuck with part-time hours. That's a rather telling combination if you ask me. Companies aren't stupid. They're keeping their options open. 165,000 jobs added… a beautiful number for the headlines. Not quite as beautiful when you look at what's actually landing in people's paychecks. Celebrate if you like. This number gets revised twice more. July was first reported as a gain of 21,000. It's now a loss.