Occupancy rates increased to 94.6% at the end of 2011, up from 93.5% a year ago and from 91.8% when the occupancy rates bottomed in late 2009.

MPF Research predicts occupancy rates to increase another 50 basis points, and rents to rise 4.5%.

Northern California’s apartment markets ranked as the nation’s rent growth leaders during calendar 2011, despite the fact that some weakness registered in the performances recorded in parts of the Pacific Northwest specifically during the fourth quarter. Year-over-year, effective rents for new leases jumped 14.6% in San Francisco, 12.3% in San Jose, and 9% in Oakland. With rents down 0.4%, Las Vegas was the nation’s only major apartment market that lost pricing power during calendar 2011.

Rent Growth Leaders in Calendar 2011

Related: Apartment Vacancies Fall to Lowest in 3 Years in the USA (April 2011) – Top USA Markets for Buying Rental Property – Apartment Rents Rise, Slightly, for First Time in 5 Quarters – It’s Now a Renter’s Market

This employment news is really starting to add up to something good. And this is going on while everyone is worrying about the Euro imploding. Quite remarkable really. Avoiding a much worse result from the too big-to-fail-financial-firms credit crisis is surprising. We are not close to through the mess that we created, but that it hasn’t been much worse is fairly amazing. And that things are going so well now (even with large unemployment problems) is impressive. The huge government debt balances are a very large concern but it wouldn’t be surprising to have those same huge debts and much worse present day conditions (which would add to the debts).

The unemployment rate declined to 8.3%; the rate has fallen by 80 basis point since August. The number of unemployed persons declined to 12.8 million in January. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.7%) and blacks (13.6%) declined in January. The unemployment rates for adult women (7.7%), teenagers (23.2%), whites (7.4%), and Hispanics (10.5%) were little changed. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.7%.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 5.5 million and accounted for 42.9% of the unemployed. Long term unemployment remains a big problem. With a few more months with such strong growth in jobs and that could start to change.

After accounting for the annual adjustments to the population controls, the employment-population ratio (58.5%) rose in January, while the civilian labor force participation rate held at 63.7%.

Professional and business services continued to add jobs in January (+70,000). About half of the increase occurred in employment services (+33,000). Job gains also occurred in accounting and bookkeeping (+13,000) and in architectural and engineering services (+7,000).

Related: USA Adds 216,00 Jobs in March and the Unemployment Rate Stands at 8.8% (March 2011) – USA Unemployment Rate Remains at 9.7% (Feb 2010) – USA Unemployment Rate Rises to 8.1%, Highest Level Since 1983 (March 2009)

In January, health care employment continued to grow (+31,000). Within the industry, hospitals and ambulatory care services each added 13,000 jobs.

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing added 50,000 jobs. Nearly all of the increase occurred in durable goods manufacturing, with job growth in fabricated metal products (+11,000), machinery (+11,000), and motor vehicles and parts (+8,000). Durable goods manufacturing has added 418,000 jobs over the past 2 years.

Employment in construction increased by 21,000 in January, following a gain of 31,000 in the previous month. Over the past 2 months, nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 30,000 jobs.

Mining added 10,000 jobs in January, with most of the gain in support activities for mining (+8,000). Since a recent low in October 2009, mining employment has expanded by 172,000.

Government employment changed little in January. Over the past 12 months, the sector has lost 276,000 jobs, with declines in local government; state government, excluding education; and the U.S. Postal Service.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged in January. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.3 hour to 40.9 hours, and factory overtime increased by 0.1 hour to 3.4 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.8 hours.

The monthly revisions in job gains (or losses) result from additional sample reports and the monthly recalculation of seasonal factors. The annual benchmark process also contributed to these revisions.

• 2 Billionaire Brothers’ Insider Buying At Colfax by Zack Miller – “[In] the Danaher Business System… management believes its found a demonstrable, repeatable recipe for success, and it drives both culture and process at the company and its acquisitions. DBS is a form of Japanese kaizen, comprising 4 components: 1) People 2) Plans 3) Processes 4) Performance” [I own Danaher and have it in my 12 stocks for 10 year portfolio - John, my management blog focuses on such management systems]
• Apple’s Impossibly Good Quarter by John Hunter – “You can’t grow quarterly sales from $26.7 billion to $46.3 billion. $26 million to $46 million, fine that is possible, billions however – not possible. Except Apple did. You can’t grow a $6 billion quarterly profit to $13 billion in 1 year. Except Apple did. You can’t generate a cash flow of $17.5 billion in a quarter. Except Apple did. You can’t have a stockpile of $100 billion in cash. Except Apple does. These figures would not have been seen as unlikely just 3 years ago. They were impossible. But Apple achieved them.”
• How to Save the Euro by George Soros – “the cuts in government expenditures that Germany wants to impose on other countries will push Europe into a deflationary debt trap. Reducing budget deficits will put both wages and profits under downward pressure, the economies will contract, and tax revenues will fall. So the debt burden, which is a ratio of the accumulated debt to the GDP, will actually rise, requiring further budget cuts, setting in motion a vicious circle.”
• Japan’s Trade Figures: Some Perspective by Eamonn Fingleton – “In a typical maneuver, goods might be shipped to China via Hong Kong. The goods are exported from Japan at heavily discounted prices and a Hong Kong subsidiary takes a huge profit in selling to China. Such profits constitute hidden export revenues that are not caught in the visible trade numbers. The maneuver makes sense because Japan’s corporate tax rate is one of the world’s highest.” [This is one, of many things, that make economic data difficult to rely on - you have to pay close attention to the details - John]
• Krugman Take on $12 Trillion Question Rings True – “Japan’s toxic mix of too much debt, too little growth, too many old people and too few babies will end badly if Tokyo doesn’t get its act together. It’s important, though, to highlight where Fingleton is right. Japan is pretty close to a model society. It is an incredibly safe, clean, efficient, predictable…”
• Wall Street’s Achilles’ Heel – Efficient Market Hypothesis Doesn’t Always Work by Shailesh Kumar – “Market inefficiencies create undervaluation that an investor can buy into. In some other cases, it can also create overvaluation that an investor can sell into or avoid. It is beneficial for a self managed investor to be alert for these situations as the difference in performance between a value biased portfolio and a market neutral portfolio can be very significant over the life of the portfolio.”
• These Three Jobs Are a Great Way for a Teen to Earn Money and Learn Something About Life at the Same Time – “My opinion is that one of the best ways for a teenager to learn about making and saving money is to get a summer-job, or work part-time. These are absolutely amazing ways to gain valuable experience in helping others and learn about responsibility, endurance, and teamwork, and earn money in the process”
• USA Spends $7,960 Compared to $3,800 for Other Rich Countries on Health Care with No Better Health Results by John Hunter – “It is possible to argue the USA provides mediocre results, which is consistent with most global health care performance measures. Unless you directly benefit from the current USA system it is hard to see how you can argue it is not the worst system of any rich country: costing twice as much and achieving middling performance.”

Globally the rich countries citizens are not tremendously happy with health care systems overall. It seems likely not only does the USA cost twice and much as it should and perform poorly compared to countries doing an excellent job but the USA performs that poorly compared to countries that themselves have quite a bit of improvement to make. Which makes the state of the USA system even worse.

Data from the Commonwealth fund report published in 2011 with data for 2009, International Profiles of Health Care Systems, 2011:

Table showing, percent of GDP spent and total spending per capita in USD on health care by country.

Under currently law in the USA by 2020 the uninsured rate should decline to under 5% by 2020 (still far more than any rich country – nearly all of which are at 0%).

On many performance measures in the report the USA is the worst performing system (in addition to costing twice as much). Such as Avoidable Deaths, 2006–07, the USA had 96 per 100,000, the next highest was the UK at 83, Australia was the lowest at 57. And Diabetes Lower Extremity Amputation Rates per 100,000 population, the USA had 36 the next highest was New Zealand at 12, the lowest was the UK at 9. For experiencing a medical, medication or lab test rrror in past 2 years, the USA was at 18%, next worst was Canada at 17%, best was UK at 8%. The USA was top performer in breast cancer five-year survival rate, 2002–2007. And sometimes the USA was in the middle, able to get same/next day appointment when sick: the USA was at 57%, New Zealand achieved 78% while Canada only reached 45%.

It is possible to argue the USA provides mediocre results, which is consistent with most global health care performance measures. Unless you directly benefit from the current USA system it is hard to see how you can argue it is not the worst system of any rich country. Costing twice as much and achieving middling performance. All that doesn’t even factor in the cost in anguish and bankruptcies and restricting individual freedom (when you have to stay tied to a job you would rather leave, just because of health insurance) caused by the difficulty getting coverage and fighting with the insurance companies for payment and coverage for treatment expenses.

Related: Measuring the Health of Nations – USA Paying More for Health Care – Traveling for Health Care – resources for improvement health system performance

The only real objections to Apple’s stock I can see are: the overall market value is so huge it just has to collapse (over $400 billion – the largest in the world) or it has to be time for a huge reversal of fortunes.

The problem with the view that it will fall is that the stock is very cheap by any rational measure. You are not paying much for all the earnings. Even if Apple does not continue the trend of the last 5 years, if it just stopped growing altogether, it is still cheap (if it does continue that trend it will break $1 trillion by 2014 – but I don’t think it will). The biggest risk is the profit margin shrinks drastically. That is possible. It is even somewhat likely to shrink a fair amount. But there isn’t much reason to think revenues will not grow. And to me, the current price makes sense only if revenues fall and profit margins fall. It takes the worst case scenario to make this stock seem overpriced.

The data on the last quarter (and for 2011 overall) are impossible (except they actually happened).

• record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion ($26.74 billion in 2010)
• record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion ($6 billion in 2010)
• Gross margin was 44.7 percent compared to 38.5 percent in the year-ago quarter
• $17.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter (and $38 billion in the last year)
• $100 billion in cash now ($97.6 billion to be exact but since the data was gathered they probably passed $100 billion anyway). That is more than the market cap of all but 52 companies in the world.

You can’t grow quarterly sales from $26.7 billion to $46.3 billion. $26 million to $46 million, fine that is possible, billions however – not possible. Except Apple did. You can’t grow a $6 billion quarterly profit to $13 billion in 1 year. Except Apple did. You can’t generate a cash flow of $17.5 billion in a quarter. Except Apple did. You can’t have a stockpile of $100 billion in cash. Except Apple does. These figures would not have been seen as unlikely just 3 years ago. They were impossible. But Apple achieved them.

These figures are not short term blips. They are the latest in a long stream of amazingly results.

Related: How Apple Can Grow from $200 Billion to $300 Billion In Market Cap – Apple Tops Google (August 2008)

Apple has numerous, incredibly strong businesses. Each could be the linchpin of an extremely valuable company.

• iPhone initial sales and reoccurring income (over 50% of Apple’s revenue)
• app sales (for iPhones, iPads and Macs)
• iPads
• iTunes
• Macs
• Their retail store business – selling all their products

Potentially huge business: Apple TV and ebook sales. It is hard to see how they could have serious stumbles in numerous of these extremely profitable businesses all at the same time.

Some more interesting figures:

• international sales accounted for 58% of sales
• 37 million iPhones (128% growth)
• 15.4 million iPads (111% growth)
• 5.2 million Macs (26% growth) – this used to be their whole business, now you forget it even exists. The MacAir is excellent, by the way, that is what I am using to write this post.
• 15.4 million iPods (21% decline)
• Apple paid $700 million to developers (as part of the app business) last year, and has paid out over $4 billion in total.
• Apple’s profit for the quarter ($13 billion) exceeded Google’s revenue ($10 billion)

I do strongly believe Apple should pay a sizable regular dividend (at least 1.5%). But I don’t know if the odds are great that they will. One risk is they blow the money in foolish ways. When you $100 billion and generate over $3 billion more each month it is hard to appreciate that risking a few billion here and a few billion there really matters.

For each business there is risk and certainly possibilities of slower growth, decline and profit margin contraction. The stock is priced for quite a bit of earnings decline. And has been for awhile. I understand the reluctance to buy a company that has a market cap over $400 billion. But when you look at the finances and contemplate the future it is hard to see how the stock is not cheap. There are risks. There are risks with every stock and risks to the future profitability of every company.

Having so many extremely strong, extremely profitable business puts Apple in a great position. It is hard to see how they can come up with another business line that can make a difference to the profits of a $400 billion company. But the stock price isn’t expecting that. It isn’t expecting growth in revenue. It isn’t expecting growth in profits. From where I sit the potential for Apple from the current price (PE of 13) is much greater than the risk. And even with a 8% increase today is cheaper than yesterday (the news is so impossibly great that 8% doesn’t capture the value of that news).

I own Apple stock, but not enough. My sleepwell portfolio includes Apple stock. I was smart enough to finally buy it after waiting for years thinking the price wasn’t good enough.

Related: Intel Reports Their Best Quarter Ever (July 2010) – Google up 13% on Great Earnings Announcement – Amazon Soars on Good Earnings and Projected Sales – Leadership quotes from Steve Jobs

In 2009 the USA Spent Record $2.5 Trillion, $8,086 per person 17.6% of GDP on Medical Care.

USA health care spending grew 3.9% in 2010 following an increase of 3.8% in 2009. While those are the two slowest rates of growth in the 51 year history of the National Health Expenditure Accounts, they still outpaced both inflation and GDP growth. So yet again the health system expenses are taking a bigger portion of overall spending.

As a result of failing to address this issue for decades the problem is huge and will likely take decades to bring back just to a level where the burden on those in the USA, due to their broken health care system, is equal to the burden of other rich countries. Over 2 decades ago the failure in the health care system reached epidemic proportions but little has been done to deal with the systemic failures. Dr. Deming pointed to excessive health care cost, back then, as one of 7 deadly diseases facing American business. The fact that every year costs have increased more than GDP growth and outcome measures are no better than other rich countries shows the performance has been very poor. The disease is doing even more harm today.

Related: USA Heath Care System Needs Reform – USA Spends Record $2.3 trillion ($7,681 Per Person) on Health Care in 2008 – Systemic Health Care Failure: Small Business Coverage – Measuring the Health of Nations – How to improve the health care system performance – Management Improvement in Healthcare – USA Spent $2.2 Trillion, 16.2% of GDP, on Health Care in 2007

Failing to deal with the obviously broken system for decades puts the USA in a very difficult situation now. The aging baby boomers are likely to make decreasing health care spending much more difficult than it would have been 20 or 30 years ago. And the cost of paying exorbitant prices that the broken health care system imposes increases every year for American business.

Spending data

• Hospital spending increased 4.9% to $814.0 billion in 2010 (in 2009 growth was 6.4%). Average annual growth in hospital spending between 2007 and 2010 was 5.5 %. From 2003 to 2006 spending increased an average of 7.4% per year.
• Spending on physician and clinical services increased 2.5 % in 2010 to $515.5 billion (3.3% growth in 2009).
• Spending for other professional services, which includes providers of services such as physical therapy, chiropractic medicine, and mental health, decelerated slightly in 2010, increasing 3.6% to $68.4 billion after growth of 3.8% in 2009.
• Spending for dental services increased 2.3% in 2010 to $104.8 billion (up 0.1% in 2009). Out-of-pocket spending for dental services accounts for over 40% of dental spending.
• Spending for other health, residential,
  and personal care services grew 5.3 percent in 2010 to $128.5 billion, a deceleration from growth
  of 7.7 percent in 2009. This category includes expenditures for medical services delivered in
  non-traditional settings (such as schools or community centers), ambulance providers, and
  residential mental health and substance abuse facilities.
• Spending growth for freestanding home health care services increasing 6.2% to $70.2 billion following growth of 7.5% in 2009.
• Spending for freestanding nursing care facilities and continuing care retirement communities increased 3.2% in 2010 to $143.1 billion (increased 4.5% in 2009).
• Retail prescription drug spending grew 1.2% to $259.1 billion in 2010 (5.1% growth in 2009). The decrease in the rate of increasing costs was driven by slower growth in the volume of drugs consumed, a continued increase in the use of generic medications, loss of patent protection for certain brand name drugs, fewer new drug introductions, and a substantial increase in Medicaid prescription drug rebates.
• Spending for durable medical equipment, which includes items such as eyeglasses, contacts and hearing aids, increased 7.3% to $37.7 billion in 2010.
• Spending for other non-durable medical products, such as over-the-counter medicines, reached $44.8 billion, an increase of 2.6% in 2010.

Who are writing the checks to pay for these huge costs?

The federal government financed 29% of total health spending in 2010, a substantial increase from its share of 23% in 2007. Meanwhile, the shares of the total health care bill financed by state and local governments (16%), private businesses (21%), and households (28%) declined during the same time period.

• Medicare spending grew 5.0% in 2010 to $524.6 billion (on top of 7.0% growth in 2009).
• Total Medicaid spending grew 7.2% in 2010 to $401.4 billion (on top of 8.9% growth in 2009). Federal Medicaid expenditures increased 8.9%, while state Medicaid expenditures grew 3.9%. Basically, the reason state expenditures “only” grew by 3.9% is $41 billion is aid from the federal government (as part of the attempts to recover from the credit crisis [another crisis greatly enhanced federal by the politicians making very bad policy decisions]).
• Growth in total spending for private health insurance premiums increased to 2.4% after gains of 2.6% in 2009, continuing a deceleration in the rate of growth that began in 2003. The decrease in the rate of growth reflects a decline in private health insurance enrollment, increases in cost sharing, and a shift by some consumers to plans with lower premiums (those reductions in benefits obviously more than overcome by increases in the costs of the benefits that remained).
• Out-of-Pocket: Out-of-pocket spending grew 1.8% in 2010. Faster growth in 2010 partially reflects higher cost-sharing requirements for some employers, consumers’ switching to plans with lower premiums and higher deductibles and/or copayments, and the continued loss of health insurance coverage.

Read more on the National Health Expenditure Data report.

GDP in USD for countries

I just picked countries that interested me and seemed worth looking at. I looked for some around the starting position of Singapore and close to Singapore geographically. And looked at Panama as the closest match to Singapore (for Singapore’s main 1970 asset, convenient for shipping lanes, and very close for GDP per capita).

Malaysia and Singapore were 1 country after independence (from 1963-1965).

I can’t imagine more than a couple countries could reasonably be argued to have had better economic performance from 1970 to 2010 than Singapore (Korea? China? Who else?). Singapore had very little going for it in 1970. They had a good location for shipping and that is about it macro-economically. No natural resources. No huge storage of wealth. No preeminence in science, technology or business.

It seems to me that Singapore actually did have 1 other thing. A government that was to preside over a fantastic economic growth success. You won’t find many textbooks talking about the way to economic success is a very well run government. And there is good reason for that, I believe. Relying on a very well run government will nearly always fail. In some ways Singapore was like Japan but with significantly more government influence on the way economic development played out.

I was surprised how poorly the USA has faired. It isn’t so surprising that we lagged. People forget how rich the USA was in 1970. The USA is still very rich but bunched together with lots of other rich countries instead of way out ahead as they were in 1970. And in 1970 the lead was already contracting, for what it had been earlier. But even knowing the relative performance of the USA had lagged, I was surprised by how much it under-performed.

I was also surprised with India. I knew they have done poorly but I didn’t realize it had been this poor. The failures to greatly improve infrastructure, education and the stifling effect of their bureaucracy have been causing them great harm. They have been doing some good things in the last 10 years especially but still have a long way to go. Their premier education is actually pretty decent. The problem is the other 90% of the education is often poor and many people (especially women) hardly have any education at all. It is very hard to get ahead when you fail to take advantage of the talents of so many of your people.

Related: Singapore and Iskandar Malaysia – Chart of Largest Petroleum Consuming Countries from 1980 to 2010 – Chart of Nuclear Power Production by Country from 1985-2009 – Top Countries For Renewable Energy Capacity

** I made an adjustment which distorts the data a bit but seems fine to me. I adjusted the 1970 figure provided by the source using the US Fed price deflator. I took 24 for 1970 and 111 for 2010. Then I divided 111 by 24 = 4.625. So I multiplied the 1970 figure by 4.625 so that the 2010 and 1970 figures are reported on an equivalent basis (so $10,000 in 1970 column = $10,000 in the 2010 column). Then the percentage increase are not having inflation inflating the percentage increase. Also it makes the 1970s figure more easily understandable (it is hard to appreciate that $2,500 is a high figure for GDP per capita).

*** many of the 2010 figures are IMF forecasts

• Recovering Adam Smith’s ethical economics – “He justified commercial society for its tremendous contribution to the prosperity, justice, and freedom of its members, and most particularly for the poor and powerless in society.” [This post covers a topic I think is very important and have written about several times - John]
• A Man. A Van. A Surprising Business Plan. by Zoe Chace – “Adam had tricked out the van to be a mobile solution to Chinese bureaucracy. There are a couple of Mac laptops and a printer, plus an old couch, Christmas lights and bamboo mats. It’s as cozy as a dorm room. And confused visa applicants line up outside.” [wonderful - John]
• Chart of Manufacturing Output from 2000 to 2010 by Country by John Hunter – “Europe has 4 countries in this list (if you exclude Russia) and they do not appear likely to do particularly well in the next decade, in my opinion. I would certainly expect Brazil, India, Korea and Indonesia to out produce Italy, France, UK and Spain in 2020. In 2010 the total was $976 billion by the European 4 to $961 billion by the non-European 4. In 2000 it was $718 billion for the European 4 to $343 billion (remember all the data is in 2010 USD).”
• Ultimate Sustainable Dividend Portfolio – “I would expect the Ultimate Sustainable to do better in difficult times and worse in great times. Why? The USDP is a more stable portfolio that will fluctuate less over time…”
• 
  The Renminbi is the Love Child of the Baht and the Króna – “When crisis hit Thailand in 1996 and Iceland in 2008, the baht lost half of its value against the U.S. dollar, and the króna lost over 60% against the euro. The growth in the money supply leading up to the crisis in both currencies is the same trend we see occurring with the Renminbi now.”
• Making It in America by Adam Davidson, the Atlantic – “manufacturing output continues to grow strongly; in the past decade alone, output from American factories, adjusted for inflation, has risen by a third. Yet the success of American manufacturers has come at a cost. Factories have replaced millions of workers with machines.”
• Why I Am Switching Career Tracks – “My plan is to expand my online efforts to the point that it replaces day job. Once this happens, I plan to work on creating truly passive income streams that can be managed in less than 3 days each week. I plan to incorporate real estate and dividend stocks to complement my online business.”

If you would like to be considered for guest hosting a future edition of the carnival please make a comment including a link to your blog. I will be selective in what blogs I have guest host. My management blog has been hosting a carnival for years now.

Related: 2011 annual management blog roundup

Since April of 2005 the portfolio Marketocracy* calculated annualized rate or return (which excludes Tesco) is 5.7% (the S&P 500 annualized return for the period is 3.9%). Marketocracy subtracts the equivalent of 2% of assets annually to simulate management fees – as though the portfolio were a mutual fund – so without that (it is not like this portfolio takes much management), the return beats the S&P 500 annual return by about 380 basis points annually (it would be a bit less with Tesco, but still close above 3%, I would think – calculating rates of return with purchases and sales and dividends is a complete pain, which is one reason Marketocracy is so nice).

The current stocks, in order of return:

The current marketocracy results can be seen on the Sleep Well marketocracy portfolio page.

Related: 12 Stocks for 10 Years: Feb 2011 Update – 12 Stocks for 10 Years, July 2011 Update – 12 Stocks for 10 Years, July 2009 Update – hand picked articles on investing

I decided to lighten up on Tesco and will likely buy Abbot (ABT). I am considering selling Cisco (largely to reduce the overload on technology and to keep the number of stocks down – I still think it is a perfectly good stock). I would still consider replacing PetroChina and Pfizer: I like both sectors more than I like the companies themselves. Still as part of the portfolio I think they are valuable. I would like a bit more exposure to commodities and health care but I haven’t found the right companies to add to this portfolio (I tend to like smaller, companies and haven’t found ones I am happy to lock away for a 5-10 year holding period).

In order to comply with the marketocracy diversification rules and deal with not being able to buy Tesco (in marketocracy) I own fairly small amounts of several other stocks in the portfolio (that are included in the marketocracy return). I only have: ATP Oil & Gas (ATPG) and USG left (and may sell them soon – especially if I keep Cisco).

* In order to track performance created a marketocracy portfolio but had to make some minor adjustments (and marketocracy doesn’t allow Tesco to be purchased, though it is easily available as an ADR to anyone in the USA to buy in real life – it is based in England).
** Tesco had a purchase price of $22.55 on Dec 11th 2006 and has paid approximately 40 cents a year in dividends. The current price is $17.89. The -13% return is just an estimate.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) continues to be a big problem and was little changed at 5.6 million, accounted for 42.5% of the unemployed (quite a high percentage). While adding 192,000 is better than losing jobs or adding fewer, it is still not enough to make up for the credit crisis job losses. The economy needs to add 125,000 a month to keep up with population growth. Sustained gains over 230,000 month after month are needed to be what I would see as good, and really above 270,000 would be much better – but given the Eurozone problems, staying about 200,000 may really be good news.

The civilian labor force participation rate (64.0%) and the employment-population ratio (58.5%) were both unchanged over the month.

Over the past 12 months, nonfarm payroll employment has risen by 1.6 million. Employment in the private sector rose by 212,000 in December and by 1.9 million over the year. Government employment changed little over the month but fell by 280,000 over the year.

Employment in transportation and warehousing rose sharply in December (+50,000). Almost all of the gain occurred in the couriers and messengers industry (+42,000); seasonal hiring was particularly strong in December.

Retail trade continued to add jobs in December, with a gain of 28,000. Employment in the industry has increased by 240,000 over the past 12 months.

In December, manufacturing employment expanded by 23,000, following 4 months of little change. Employment increased in December in transportation equipment (+9,000), fabricated metals (+6,000), and machinery (+5,000).

Related: USA Unemployment Rate Rises to 9.8% (Nov 2010) – USA Unemployment Rate Remains at 9.7% (March 2010) – Over 500,000 Jobs Disappeared in November 2008

Mining employment rose by 7,000 over the month. Over the year, mining added 89,000 jobs.

Health care continued to add jobs in December (+23,000); employment in hospitals increased by 10,000. Over the year, health care employment has risen by 315,000.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours in December. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.1 hour to 40.5 hours. Factory overtime decreased by 0.1 hour to 3.2 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours.

In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $23.24. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.1 percent. In December, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were unchanged at $19.54.