On the first Friday of each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the employment data for the previous month. Data is available at www.bls.gov.
At SMU we track the job creation numbers by many different categories. The BLS data base is an excellent reality check for other economic data streams such as manufacturing and construction and we include the net job creation figures for those two sectors in our “Key Indicators” report.
It is easy to drill down into the BLS data base to obtain employment data for many sub sectors of the economy. For example, among hundreds of sub indexes are truck transportation, auto production and primary metals production. The important point about each of these hundreds of data streams is in which direction they are headed. We believe that by comparing three separate data sources whenever possible for a given steel related sector of the economy, that an accurate picture of market direction can be obtained.
The BLS data is one of the most important sources of fine grained economic data. The States also collect their own employment numbers independently of the BLS. The compiled state data compares well with the federal data.
Every three months SMU examines the state data and provides a regional report which indicates strength of weakness on a geographic basis. Reports by individual state can be produced on request.
Premium SMU members also have access to related articles and our analysis which can be found on the right hand side of this page.
