Economy Alarm: "Where are the Jobs?"

September 4, 2009

Unemployment Rate Increases to 9.7%, Exceeding Expectations
As Obama and the Democrats Take Victory Laps, Middle Class Americans Are Still Asking “Where Are The Jobs?”

Biden Touts Recovery Act Progress After 200 Days

“‘The Recovery Act has played a significant role in changing the trajectory of our economy and changing the conversation about the economy in this country,’ Biden said in a speech at the Brookings Institution in the District.” (Michael A. Fletcher, “200 Days In, Vice President Biden Touts Recovery Act,” Washington Post, 09/03/2009)

Credibility Crash: Unemployment Numbers Rose to 9.7% in August as Forecasts Paint an Even Grimmer Picture for the Future

The U.S. jobless rate in August jumped to 9.7 percent, the highest since 1983, and employers cut another 216,000 jobs, highlighting threats to consumer spending.

The increase in the unemployment rate from 9.4 percent exceeded forecasts. The smaller-than-anticipated drop in payrolls was the least in a year, and followed a decrease of 276,000 in July that was larger than previously reported, Labor Department data showed today in Washington.

Rising joblessness underscores Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s judgment that it’s “too early” to start exiting from the unprecedented stimulus measures helping stabilize the economy. AMR Corp. and Whirlpool Corp. are among the companies continuing to cut staff to lower costs and revive profits in the aftermath of the deepest recession since the 1930s.

“The labor market’s healing process is agonizingly slow,” Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc. in New York, said before the report. “We expect the improvement to remain a very slow one, and therefore for the household sector to be contending with a weak labor market for some time.”

Revisions subtracted 49,000 from payroll figures previously reported for July and June.

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The jobless rate was projected to rise to 9.5 percent. Forecasts ranged from 9.3 percent to 9.8 percent. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg last month projected the jobless rate will reach 10 percent by early 2010 and average 9.8 percent for all of next year. (Timothy R. Homan, “U.S. Jobless Rate Rises to 9.7%, Highest Since 1983, Bloomberg, 09/04/2009)

To read the full article, click here: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20670001&sid=azXZugoul_S0#

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