DRAFT--PRELIMINARY AND INCOMPLETE

"How Journalists Ought to Cover the Economy": Readings for first week of classes: Employment and Unemployment:

Some background graphs:

Payroll Survey Employment Growth since 1994
Long-Term Unemployment
Unemployment and Underemployment
The Employment-to-Population Ratio
Thirty Years of the Unemployment Rate
Three Years of the Unemployment Rate
Unemployment: The Importance of Seasonal Adjustment

The news itself:

Statement by Commissioner of Labor Statistics Kathy Utgoff.
The January 6, 2006 Employment Report itself.

Immediate Stories:

January 6, 2006: Reuters: Reuters's initial story on the January 6, 2006 BLS Employment Report: "Job growth below expectations in December" Fri Jan 6, 2006 9:20 AM ET: By Glenn Somerville..."

January 6, 2006: Wall Street Journal Morning: The Wall Street Journal's Friday morning story about the January 6, 2006 Employment Report: "U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls Grew By 108,000 Jobs Last Month: Hiring slowed down in December as U.S. employers were more cautious in taking on new workers as 2005 drew to a close. But job growth in prior months was stronger than initially thought, and the unemployment rate declined..."

January 6, 2006: Economist Forecasters' Immediate Reactions to the Employment Report release.

After Taking a Breath:

January 6, 2006: AP Story : The end-of-the-day AP story about the January 6, 2006 BLS Employment Report: "U.S. Job Growth Slows a Bit in December as 108,000 Are Created.... Businesses boosted payrolls modestly in December, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent -- evidence, President Bush said, of the economy's resiliency in the face of last year's hurricanes and high energy costs. For all of 2005, employers added 2 million new jobs..."

January 6, 2006: Tim Duy Looks at the Fed: and guesses what the Federal Reserve's reaction will be to the January 6, 2006 Employment Report.

The Following Morning:

January 7, 2006: Greg Ip : writes about Friday's employment report for the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal.

January 7, 2006: Edmund Andrews's next-day article on the January 6, 2006 Employment Report.

Broader Perspectives:

Mark Thoma of the University of Oregon tries to provide perspective on the January 6, 2006 Employment Report in perspective.

Kash Mansouri of Colby College on the January 6, 2006 Employment Report: "the US economy continues to disappoint when it comes to the creation of new private-sector jobs."

The Heritage Foundation's Tim Kane.