Here’s an interesting twist to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) report of 175,000 jobs created. If we look at the Birth/Death or online vs offline company starts and fails, the jobs report would have been -188,000.

Not trying to be a downer in all this but the reality of the job market became much clearer this morning despite the best efforts of those reporting the numbers this past year.

The Federal Reserve relies heavily on accurate data for decision-making, and uncertain data requires time for analysis.

By the numbers:

1. Jobs Created 175,000 expected 243,000
2. Unemployment was 3.8% now 3.9%
3. Hourly earnings rose 0.2% expected 0.3%
4. Weekly hours worked decreased from 34.4 to 34.3

These figures suggest a weakening job market, which could influence interest rate decisions. There’s pressure on the Federal Reserve to consider a rate cut in September rather than waiting until November.