With fireworks behind us, we can settle in for summer with a quiet statistical start to the first full week of the third quarter – maybe.

The absence of potent economic data will give analysts more time to digest the disappointing employment report issued just before the holiday weekend began, and there was a lot to chew on.

Beyond the superlatives – highest unemployment rate in 26 years, greatest number of people unemployed since record-keeping began, shortest workweek (hours) since 1948 when that data series began – the details can be even more frightening.

It is a bit tiresome to hear “employment is lagging indicator” when so much of the widely-anticipated does point to the future. Hours worked, for example is a cutting edge indicator as employers try to reduce payrolls without cutting workers, hoping they will be poised to quickly take advantage a turn in the economy. In the interim though, fewer hours worked means a cut in earnings which translates directly into consumer activity.

An uptick in hours would be an early indicator of an imminent improvement in the economy.

Unemployment rates (yes, plural) have an inverse relationship to age, that is younger workers tend to have a higher unemployment rate, indeed confirmed by Friday’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report: the 9.5% unemployment rate for all workers over 16 breaks down to 24.0% for teenagers, 15.2% for 20-24 year-olds, 10.1% for 25-34 year-olds, 8.1% for 35-44 year-olds, 7.3% for 45-54 year-olds and 7.0% for those 55 and older.

The labor force is clearly aging. As of the report for June, 18.8% of the labor force (all persons employed and unemployed) and 19.4% of those with jobs were 55 or older – both record percentages. While it is true baby boomers are aging and a growing component of the work force, 50 years ago, into 1960, almost 19% of all those with jobs were 55 or older. That older workers are finding it increasingly difficult to retire means they don’t create job openings for younger workers. So, perhaps another sign of a recovery would be an increase in retirements. The labor force participation rate of older workers fell following recessions in 1973-75 and in 1981-82. The participation rate of older workers was near a record low during the 1990-91 recession and remained that way but rose after the 2001 recession.

Among the troublesome signals in the employment report was the continued downsizing in the financial sector – particularly in the category of “credit intermediation and related activities” – loan underwriters. As of June, according to the BLS report, there were 2,603,400 underwriters, down 11.1% from June 2006. While mortgage lenders, according to some, may have played a hand in the current economic downturn (understatement?), they are also critical to the resolution in working on loan modifications for troubled borrowers. As affected as the financial has been in the recession, according to BLS the industry sector has the lowest unemployment rate – 5.5% -- of any private sector industry group. (The unemployment rate for government workers is 4.4% according to BLS.)

The labor market will be the focus of at least two of the monthly reports to be issued in the upcoming – the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing survey index which includes a sub-index focusing on employment (for June) to be released Monday and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (for May) to be released Tuesday. The ISM survey will be anti-climactic in the wake of Friday’s employment report. JOLTS, dated though it may be, could be more meaningful indicating hirings and separations by industry grouping. Last month’s JOLTS report showed there were more than five people unemployed for every job opening, a record, underscoring how difficult the job market is.
Through April, for example, the construction industry accounted for under 10% of all hiring this year, compared with just over 14% in 2008.

The other key measures in the coming week will be Tuesday’s American Bankers Association survey on consumer credit delinquencies (for the first quarter) and Wednesday’s report on consumer credit outstanding. Taken together they will provide a glimmer to the health of the banking sector.

Mark Lieberman is the senior economist for the Fox Business Network. Prior to joining FOX, he served as first vice president and manager of economic analysis and research at Washington Mutual in New York. Before that, he served as senior vice president at Dime Savings Bank of New York (which was later acquired by Washington Mutual), where he specialized in credit and risk management. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the New York Association for Business Economics. He has a degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.