Bankruptcy

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

By J. Michael McBride

In the great depression, FDR created jobs, so that people could work and earn a living for their families. No one says that we are in recession, let alone a depression; however, here are the numbers on job losses and they speak for themselves.

“There was a net loss of 159,000 jobs in September, the ninth straight month the U.S. economy has lost jobs. The August job loss was revised to 73,000 jobs, taking year-to-date job losses to 760,000.

The unemployment rate remained at 6.1%, the same level as August and in line with economists' forecast.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast the loss of 105,000 jobs in the month. It was the largest monthly job loss total since March 2003, when payrolls were down 212,000, and the second-largest decline since the months that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in late 2001….

"Incomes being crimped will feed back to weaken spending. And that will feed back into more job losses," said Robert Brusca of FAO Economics. "It is vicious circle time."

While the unemployment rate did not increase, other measures of the number of workers without the jobs they wanted rose. Those working part-time jobs because they couldn't find full-time work or their hours had been cut back due to slack business conditions jumped by 337,000 people to 6.1 million.

The so-called under-employment rate, which counts those part-time workers, as well as those without jobs who have become discouraged and stopped looking for work, rose to 11% up from 10.7%, the highest rate in that measure since April 1994.

Here is a link to this article:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/03/news/economy/jobs_september/?postversion=2008100309

Here is a quote from another article: “The number of out-of-work Americans filing new claims for unemployment insurance rose last week to a 7-year high, according to a government report released Thursday. The Department of Labor said initial filings for state jobless benefits increased by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 497,000 in the week ended Sept. 27.”

Here is that link:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/02/news/economy/jobless_claims/index.htm?postversion=2008100210

Michael

Full post as published by Texas Lawyer Blog on October 03, 2008 (boomark / email).