Re: Jobless rate hits 26 year high

"JackPineSavage" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:7gf5cpF2o4ah2U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Evelyn" <evelyn.ruut@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:h7tl2v$b2b$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"JackPineSavage" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:7gdrebF2laa7qU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-dc-august-job-numbers-story,0,2673747.story

Don Lee - Tribune Washington Bureau
Staff Writer

The nation's jobless rate unexpectedly jumped last month to a 26-year high of 9.7% from 9.4% in July, the government reported today, as employers shed 216,000 jobs over the month.

The August job cuts were smaller than the decline of 276,000 in July, continuing a trend of moderating payroll losses since January when employers slashed 741,000 jobs.

Still, the unemployment rate rose higher than most analysts' projections of 9.5% for August. And it provided the latest sign that the labor market remains grim despite recent indications that the broader economy is on the mend.

By the government's count, more than 14.9 million Americans are jobless on this Labor Day weekend. The unemployment rate last month for adult men hit 10.1%, and it edged up to 7.6% for adult women. Jobless rates rose to 15.1% for blacks and to 13% for Latinos. Reacting to today's report from the Labor Department, advocacy groups called on Congress to expand jobless benefits when it returns from summer recess next week.

"Failure to act quickly to expand benefits for those running out will deal a severe setback to the hoped-for recovery," said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, which has estimated that unemployment checks will expire for 1.3 million workers by year's end.

Officials in the Obama administration stopped short of saying that the White House would push for additional extensions in jobless benefits. But Jared Bernstein, economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, said today that "we're definitely working with Congress to examine that kind of option."

Like others in the White House in recent weeks, Bernstein trumpeted Obama's economic stimulus package as helping to pull the economy back from the brink. "Moving from losing 700,000 jobs a month [in the first quarter] to a third of that last month is a very important improvement," he said in an interview.

Even so, economists of all stripes agree that the labor market, which typically trails growth in economic output, has a long way to go before workers feel that a recovery is underway. In its latest budget report, the White House projected that the unemployment rate would hit 10% in the fourth quarter and remain high for some time thereafter, averaging 9.8% next year and 8.6% in 2011. The jobless rate averaged 4.6% in 2007.

"The economy is in the process of bottoming, but the job market will lag behind," said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at California State University. "Businesses, which engaged in preemptive layoffs earlier, are not about to start hiring people right away."

Indeed, in a survey released today, the National Federation of Independent Business, a lobbying group for small-business owners, said that nearly twice the number of employers polled in August planned to reduce employment over the next three months than those looking to add to their payrolls. "The job-generating machine is still in reverse," said William Dunkelberg, the group's economist.

Large employers too haven't stopped trimming their staff in the face of weak consumer spending. American Airlines and the appliance maker Whirlpool are among companies that have recently announced big layoffs.

"This recession is not over if jobs are hard to get. "We aren't out of the woods yet," said Chris Rupkey, an economist at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York.

With the employment cuts in August, the nation has lost about 6.9 million jobs since the recession officially began in December 2007.Manufacturing and construction, the two hardest-hit sectors in this recession, led the job cuts last month, eliminating more than 60,000 jobs each.

Employment in the service industry, including retail and business services, also fell further. Among major industries, only the health and education sector grew over the month, adding 52,000 jobs.The pace of job cuts also continued to slow in the temporary-help industry, often an harbinger of broader hiring. It lost 6,500 jobs last month.

In August the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers held steady at 33.1 hours, but that remains close to a record low, indicating that employers have yet to restore hours cut for many employees.

The average hourly earnings last month ticked up 0.3% to $18.65, partly reflecting the increase in the federal minimum wage in July to $7.25 an hour. Some analysts are particularly concerned about the prospect of stagnant or declining wages, which could further weigh down consumer spending - a critical component of the American economy and a key to the recovery.

Reggie Cannon, of Columbus, Ohio, is among the many jobless workers who have cut back their spending. Out of work since February, when he was laid off from a mutual fund company, the 54-year-old said that businesses have learned to do more with less while consumers like him have learned to do less period. "You don't go out as much, you don't go to the movies, you use coupons," he said. "I have learned to do without A, B and C," he added. "When I get a job, why should I go back?"





Apparently many have already forgotten that only 1 year ago Bush was completing his 8th year in office. It was his policies and lack of proper controls that got us here on the brink of a second "great depression". Obama inherited Bush's mess, he didn't make it. He's doing his best to turn it around, but it takes time and doesn't happen so quickly, if at all.

You mean just like Reagan inherited Carter's disaster? You are noting more than a hypocritical mynah, Mother Hogg.



And you are nothing but a cut and paste expert, Sordid.
--

Evelyn

"Even as a mother protects with her life her only child, So with a boundless heart let one cherish all living beings." --Sutta Nipata 1.8

.

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    ... The nation's jobless rate unexpectedly jumped last month to a 26-year high of 9.7% from 9.4% in July, the government reported today, as employers shed 216,000 jobs over the month. ... Like others in the White House in recent weeks, Bernstein trumpeted Obama's economic stimulus package as helping to pull the economy back from the brink. ...
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  • Re: Jobless rate hits 26 year high
    ... The nation's jobless rate unexpectedly jumped last month to a 26-year high of 9.7% from 9.4% in July, the government reported today, as employers shed 216,000 jobs over the month. ... Like others in the White House in recent weeks, Bernstein trumpeted Obama's economic stimulus package as helping to pull the economy back from the brink. ...
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  • Re: Jobless rate hits 26 year high
    ... The nation's jobless rate unexpectedly jumped last month to a 26-year high of 9.7% from 9.4% in July, the government reported today, as employers shed 216,000 jobs over the month. ... Like others in the White House in recent weeks, Bernstein trumpeted Obama's economic stimulus package as helping to pull the economy back from the brink. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Jobless rate hits 26 year high
    ... The nation's jobless rate unexpectedly jumped last month to a 26-year high of 9.7% from 9.4% in July, the government reported today, as employers shed 216,000 jobs over the month. ... Like others in the White House in recent weeks, Bernstein trumpeted Obama's economic stimulus package as helping to pull the economy back from the brink. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Jobless rate hits 26 year high
    ... The nation's jobless rate unexpectedly jumped last month to a 26-year high of 9.7% from 9.4% in July, the government reported today, as employers shed 216,000 jobs over the month. ... Like others in the White House in recent weeks, Bernstein trumpeted Obama's economic stimulus package as helping to pull the economy back from the brink. ...
    (soc.retirement)