米国雇用統計のグラフィックス

昨日、米国の労働省から10月の米国雇用統計が発表されました。ヘッドラインとなる非農業雇用者数は季節調整済みの前月差+151千人、うち民間部門が+159千人となり、失業率も同じく季節調整済みの系列で前月と同じ9.6%となりました。評価の難しい結果だという気がします。「まずまず」という気もすれば、「まだまだ」という気もします。典型的には、私がよく参照している New York Times と Wall Street Journal でかなり評価が異なりました。前者は Good, but not good enough. で書き出したのに対し、後者は The American job machine appears to have finally slipped into a higher gear. で始めています。私は基本的に Wall Street Journal の記者に近い評価なんですが、New York Times の記者の気持ちも分からないでもありません。まず、両社の記事の最初の方の事実関係を報じたパラを引用すると以下の通りです。

New York Times: Jobs Data Highlights the Challenges for Washington
Good, but not good enough.
As President Obama said himself, that was the message in Friday's Labor Department report, which showed that the United States economy added 151,000 jobs in October.
The gain was certainly a welcome change after four months of job losses, and was better than what economists had expected. Still, it was not nearly strong enough to make a dent in unemployment. Nearly 15 million people are still out of work, and the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.6 percent.
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Sees Surprise Growth in Jobs
The American job machine appears to have finally slipped into a higher gear.
Employers boosted hiring in October, offering hope that the recovery may be picking up steam. The government's broadest snapshot of the labor market showed the U.S. created 151,000 jobs last month, mainly on a surge of hiring by service businesses. The private sector notched its largest gain since April, adding 159,000 jobs.
The government also revised up job figures for August and September, indicating the economy shed 110,000 fewer jobs than previously thought. Even so, the jobless rate, based on a separate survey of households, remained at 9.6% for the third straight month as more workers gave up looking for work and left the official jobless rolls.
The upbeat job report came just two days after the Federal Reserve announced a plan to buy up government debt in an effort to boost growth, and it follows other indications that the economy may be growing faster than the roughly 2% rate that many analysts project for the fourth quarter.

続いて、私がいつも書いているグラフは以下の通りです。上のパネルは非農業部門雇用者数の前月差ですが、赤い折れ線は政府部門を含むすべての非農業部門、水色は政府をのぞいた民間部門です。下のパネルの緑色の折れ線グラフは失業率です。いずれも季節調整済の系列で、影をつけた部分は景気後退期を表しています。



2枚ほど New York Times のサイトから画像を引用してお終いにします。まず、久し振りに復活した The Labor Picture in October です。



最後に、New York Times のブログ・サイトである Economix から、1か月分だけ更新された Jobless Recovery のグラフの引用です。