Only 345,000 jobs lost. This is a hugely bullish report despite the headine number.  Markets are already reacting.  Bonds lower (ten-year is getting killed, now near 3.90%), stocks higher.
Here is what the Department of Labor had to say about the numbers:
Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 345,000 in May, about half the average monthly decline for [...]

A recent post I published on both Credit Writedowns and Naked Capitalism, “Both initial claims and continuing claims now pointing to recovery,” has left the impression that I am a wild-eyed bull – for which I have been duly smacked about the head.  This is far from the case.  A recent post by Nouriel Roubini [...]

Below is a chart of the actual non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates as calculated via the household survey. All of the unemployment rates are down from March to April. And the broad measure is down the most, from 16.2% to 15.4%. That’s a huge shift, so there are some heavy seasonal factors involved.

Then, [...]

The Employment Situation Summary for April was released today by the U.S. Department of Labor and the headline data was right in line with estimates.  The unemployment rate came in at 8.9%, up from 8.5% in March. Job losses for April were 539,000 (plus an additional 66,000 due to revisions of prior months).  This is [...]

In less than 30 minutes, the U.S. employment situation report is coming out. 600,000 job losses is the bogey with 8.9% as the unemployment rate.  Below, Bloomberg News talks about this.

Share

As the possibility of bankruptcy draws nearer, General Motors is moving to sell non-core assets and to broker arrangements with bondholders and unions alike which will keep it out of bankruptcy. In a 9AM press conference today, new General Motors head Fritz Henderson announced a debt-for-equity swap offer for GM bondholders which would cut [...]

Because of changes in the way the unemployment rate is calculated, the figures today are apple to oranges comparisons to the ones quoted for the Great Depression or even the 1970s. Further, changes in the economy (less manufacturing) and the labor force composition (more women) make comparisons equally difficult.
Nevertheless, it bears noting that the [...]

I have just finished looking at the latest employment situation report and there is absolutely no good news there. This report is miles apart from the jobless claims data I reviewed yesterday and does not cofirm we are anywhere close to a bottom. The headline number here was 8.5% unemployment, a 26-year high. However, upon digging a little deeper, even that number is relatively benign because of change in methodology. Below is a synopsis of what the further details reveal:

I believe we may be seeing the bottom here. Marc Chandler of Brown Brothers Harriman does as well. Here is what he has to say:
Our baseline expectation is that the pace of contraction of the US economy probably peaked in the horrific fourth quarter of last year, which still appears subject to downward [...]

This is the most important  employment number in recent memory. Consensus estimates were for 650,000 with a wide range from 500,000 to 800,000.   Everyone is looking to this number to determine where we are headed.
There was a significant downward revision to January numbers as well.  I will parse the data so check back.
The Bureau [...]