June data update

Here are 3 charts from Friday's release of (un)employment and auto sales data. First, looking at employment-population ratios shows very little recovery, and no obvious trend towards improvement. Second, auto industry employment is up – but again, we're still far short of previous levels. Finally, auto market shares by broad groups are relatively stable, despite the ups and downs of the last 5 years. However, the Big Three – GM, Ford, Toyota – are down a bit, as are Japanese firms in the aggregate. That's because of modest gains by German and Korean firms (data not shown).   [click graphs to enlarge]

mike smitka