Unemployment rate tops 10% - first time since 83

[calfoxwc]

 

Jobless rate tops 10 pct. for first time since '83

 

Unemployment rate tops 10 percent for first time since 1983; 190,000 jobs lost in October

• By Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer
• On 10:33 am EST, Friday November 6, 2009WASHINGTON (AP) -- The unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent for the first time since 1983 -- and is likely to go higher.

AP - In this Nov. 4, 2009 photo, Sonja Jackson, of Detroit, holds a Employment Guide standing in line ...

 

Nearly 16 million people can't find jobs even though the worst recession since the Great Depression has apparently ended. Many economists worry that persistently high unemployment could undermine the recovery by restraining consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

 

The Labor Department said Friday that jobless rate rose to 10.2 percent, the highest since April 1983, from 9.8 percent in September. The economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October, less than the downwardly revised 219,000 lost in September, but more than economists expected.

 

The jump in the jobless rate reflects a sharp increase in the tally of unemployed Americans, which rose to 15.7 million from 15.1 million. The net loss of jobs occurred across most industries, from manufacturing and construction to retail and financial. That tally is based on a separate survey of businesses.

 

The stock market edged up in early trading. The Dow Jones industrial average added about 10 points, while broader indexes also increased.

 

Economists say the unemployment rate could climb as high as 10.5 percent next year because employers remain reluctant to hire.

 

Counting those who have settled for part-time jobs or stopped looking for work, the unemployment rate would be 17.5 percent, the highest on records dating from 1994.

 

"It's not a good report," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist for New York-based investment firm Miller Tabak & Co. "What we're seeing is a validation of the idea that a jobless recovery is perfectly on track."

 

Friday's report is the first since the government said last week that the economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the strongest signal yet that the economy is rebounding. But that isn't fast enough to spur rapid hiring.

 

"You need explosive growth to take the unemployment rate down," Greenhaus said in an interview Thursday.

 

The economy soared by nearly 8 percent in 1983 after a steep recession, Greenhaus said, lowering the jobless rate by 2.5 percentage points that year. But the economy is unlikely to improve that fast this time, as consumers remain cautious and tight credit hinders businesses. In fact, many analysts expect economic growth to moderate early next year, as the impact of various government stimulus programs aimed at home and car buying fade.

 

Persistently high unemployment is likely to become a political liability for President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress. Most economists expect the jobless rate will remain above 9 percent through next November, when congressional elections are held.

 

When unemployment topped 10 percent in the fall of 1982, President Ronald Reagan's Republican Party lost 26 seats in the House.

 

One sign of how hard it still is to find a job: the number of Americans who have been out of work for six months or longer rose to 5.6 million, a record. They comprise 35.6 percent of the unemployed population, matching a record set last month.

 

Congress sought to address the impact of long-term unemployment this week by approving legislation extending jobless benefits for the fourth time since the recession began. The bill would add 14 to 20 extra weeks of aid and is intended to prevent almost 2 million recipients from running out of unemployment insurance during the upcoming holiday season. Obama is expected to quickly sign the legislation.

 

October was the 22nd straight month the U.S. economy has shed jobs, the longest on records dating back 70 years. The report showed job losses remain widespread across many industries. Manufacturers eliminated a net total of 61,000 jobs, the most in four months. Construction shed 62,000 jobs, down slightly from the previous month.

 

Retailers, the financial sector and leisure and hospitality companies all continued to reduce payrolls. The economy has lost a net total of 7.3 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.

 

The average work week was unchanged at 33 hours, a disappointment because employers are expected to add more hours for current workers before they begin hiring new ones.

 

There were some bright spots in the report. Professional and business services companies added 18,000 jobs. And temporary employment grew by 33,700 jobs, after losing positions for months. That's a positive sign because employers are likely to add temporary workers before hiring permanent ones.

 

Still, economists expect jobs likely will remain scarce even as the economy improves. Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, said that small businesses, a primary engine of job creation, still face tight credit and don't have the cash reserves to support extra workers.

 

And many companies are squeezing more production from their existing work forces. Productivity, the amount of output per hour worked, jumped 9.5 percent in the third quarter, the Labor Department said Thursday.

 

That's the sharpest increase in six years and followed a 6.9 percent rise in the second quarter. The increases enable companies to produce more without hiring extra people.

 

The Federal Reserve said earlier this week that it will keep a key interest rate at a record low level of nearly zero for an "extended period" to support the economy.

 

The central bank said economic activity has "continued to pick up," but Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues warned that rising joblessness and tight credit could restrain the rebound in the months ahead.

 

While the unemployment rate hasn't yet topped the post-World War II high of 10.8 percent set in December 1982, many experts say this recession is worse.

 

The unemployment rate was much lower when the recession began -- 4.9 percent in December 2007, compared with 7.2 percent in July 1981, when a brutal downturn started. That means the current job cuts have been much steeper to get to the 10 percent mark.

 

And the work force, on average, is older now as the baby boomers have aged and fewer teenagers are out looking for work. Gary Burtless, an economist at the Brookings Institution, notes that older workers are more likely to be employed than younger ones. As a result, it takes a tougher job market to push the rate to 10 percent.

 

"This may be the toughest employment situation we've seen in the postwar era," Mark Gertler, an economics professor at New York University, said in an interview earlier this week.

 

 

[Mr. T]

The stock market went up on the news that the speculations of how many New filers was not reached. it was short by 11,000 still its over 500,000 per week.

 

One thing a lot of people dont follow is the number of small business owners that are having to lock their doors and dont get unemployment benefits. This is what is crippling the economy to recovering, since small businesses are the ones that employ more than half of America.

[Kosar_For_President]

One thing a lot of people dont follow is the number of small business owners that are having to lock their doors and dont get unemployment benefits.

 

Never really thought about that.

[Kosar_For_President]

I wonder when these numbers are going to ease?

[calfoxwc]

One expert says, the "stimulus" packages were just temporary increase in one leg, with the other leg getting

 

tripped up.... in what may very well be a serious crash. With Obamao's leftist moves and business antagonism...

 

businesses are crawling into their shell to try to stay afloat.

 

Hence, the unemployment is going up.

 

What liberals do, ends up resulting in the exact opposite of what they "intended".

[Pumpkin Eater]

Unemployment is a lagging indicator. In other words, It will follow behind the recession. Unemployment will not see sizable increases until the effect of the recession really start to take hold. It will not decrease until the effects of economic growth really take hold.

 

Think about all the people sitting around with not a lot to do but are still managing to keep their job. First, they need to get busy. Then companies can think about hiring people again.

[osusev]

Seriously you are politicizing unemployment?! So we have a bloated credit/bull market based economy bouyed by excessive. Unregulated securities and derivatives/instrument trading consumption based economic system that almost crashed and you are pointing to a 10% unemployment rate as a political gotcha moment

 

it's called massive government interventionism to temporarily stabilize a complicated perception consumption based economic system.... so when our business contract to stay in operation and since publically held corporations also have to do it in order to survive and turn a profit (they only survived by the way because of massive goverment intervention) guess what they contract meaning layoffs... You know like the bloated uncompetitive u.s. Auto industry...

 

So in 12 months the obama and dems help foster more interventionism to stabilze our massive globally linked economic and credit system to now stability and people politicizing unemployment rates...

 

Brilliant....

 

Not to mention technology always reduces low skill labor availability... Sure Obama and the dems are to blame

 

wait maybe the crazy top heavy tax cuts to the wealth and deregulating the market controls was a bad idea... Because those same people also lost tons of money in the mad corporate greed game which means they also need time to recuperate to reinvest....

 

12 months to reverse trends decades in the making

 

brilliant blame the current party... (some of them are complicit) just not the new interventionist policies

[calfoxwc]

I hate unemployment all the time.

 

But there has never been this degree of mismanagement of our country's finances in any of our lifetimes.

 

Well, unless Rich was around - he's about 200 years old.

 

Every single American soldier death was politicized vs Bush and Cheney.

 

But now, we musn't speak of things that make Obamao look like Chavez being tutored by Marx?

 

You all said "the buck stops with whoever is president".

 

So, ye shall reap what you sow.

 

And trying to put lipstick on a pig just won't fly.

[Mr. T]

brilliant blame the current party...

 

 

Well they are the dumbasses that started the fire. When did they reclaim control over congress, and then how soon afterwards did the shit start running down hill onto the american worker.

 

All they really wanted is to bail out AIG, who holds the majority of government pensions. But why would they stop there? Why not take time to seize control over the majority of all banking here in the US.

[osusev]

I hate unemployment all the time.

 

But there has never been this degree of mismanagement of our country's finances in any of our lifetimes.

 

Well, unless Rich was around - he's about 200 years old.

 

Every single American soldier death was politicized vs Bush and Cheney.

 

But now, we musn't speak of things that make Obamao look like Chavez being tutored by Marx?

 

You all said "the buck stops with whoever is president".

 

So, ye shall reap what you sow.

 

And trying to put lipstick on a pig just won't fly.

 

seriously Cal? politicizing soldiers death when Bush was in power....... You mean the Blatant Oil grab garbed in some BS "threat" in Iraq? Yes they should be held to the fire for that. Totally leaving the proper theatre over 8 years ago........

 

Neither you or T even tried to discuss the economic facts of our system nor the deregulation and crazy tax cuts and spending in the midst of two overseas military occupations... yes those trends decades in the making and accelerated by Cheney/Halliburton and Bush/Exxon war profiteering and cutting taxes and taking away controls on the Market meant to protect the public.....

 

You cant turn that around in 12 months.... so keep crowing about the unemployment rate and our totally ass backward for profit terrible health care system and than even cry about our defecit which of course health care spending on its current course with just medicare and medicaid will bankrupt our entire country and than tell me that a major overhaul does not need to happen.

 

How did deregulating the securities/insurance markets work out for us? O thats right they damn near destroyed our economic system... so lets go ahead and keep letting the health insurance industry do the same..... keep crying about goverment takeover....EVEN THOUGH THAT INTERVENTIONISM DID IN FACT STABILIZE OUR ENTIRE ECONOMIC/BANKING/INSURANCE/MARKET SYSTEM.......

 

Yes lets go ahead and let the insurance/pharm industry bankrupt our entire country..... that would be great....makes perfect sense... I am sure we are totally qualified to make drug decisions from all of these drug commercials.... or lets go ahead and let these medicaid/medicare "managing companies" add billions to the cost...... sure lets let the state to state price fixing/monopolies escalate insurance premiums because they can and decrease other payouts..... sure I am sure that industry has done such a bang up jon on "regulating" itself while they pour money into lobbying so they are not held accountable..... just like the Banking and insurance industries....

 

How are the U.S. auto manufacturers doing? great I assume.... they must be expanding.... wait you mean they did not totally collapse? really? because I am sure the government interventionism has nothing to do with that.....

 

Wait T let me guess you are ignoring Indy mac being sold back to the private market already after the government bailout as well as tarp funds being paid back by quite a few major banks..... because in your world the Obama admin must be trying to stop that...

 

O no unemployment is increasing..... really... contracting markets tend to find ways to be more efficient from an overaggressive growth plan..... seriously do any of you remember any basic macro economics?

 

Or are you just so political leaning that your logic centers just dont work anymore..... 12 months and we have a stable economic/banking system and actual growth from the catastrophe is was and you people are crying about this....

[calfoxwc]

OH, baloney. LOL.

 

You get to pick and choose when the pres is held accountable and when he gets to have years of excuses.

 

Spare us the "you guys are political" when you are, too.

 

It's a political board.

 

I didn't like the "stimulus" under Bush.

 

I won't blame Bush for the housing crisis, though. That's on the corrupt Dems who headed up the whole mess.

 

We should have gone into Afghanistan AND IRAQ. But the liberal screaming every week about more loss of soldiers' lives,

 

went to silence now that Obamao is president.

 

Methinks you blow smokie.

[calfoxwc]

I remember macro economics. has nothing to do with what Obama is doing. That's bad, bootyhead.

 

And the banks are stable? Because of Obamao? ROF,LMAO !

 

Dream on, Obamao athletic supporter.

 

But first, read this:

 

********************

In case you're afraid to click on the link,

 

it says small banks in Ga, Mich, Minn,..... are CLOSING.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Small-banks-...ml?x=0&.v=9

[Pumpkin Eater]

How much time are you guys going to spend arguing about who is wrong and who is at fault? Why not try to do something about it? Because arguing on here isn't going to help anything. Cut and paste jobs do nothing.

[Mr. T]

I would bet that almost everyone knows atleast 2 people who are family or friends who are unemployed or under-employed due to the recession. Under employed meaning people who have been forced to take less paying jobs because of being dropped off from unemployment and cannot find a job with equal or greater pay in their previous field of work.

 

And all Pelosi and reid want is to push government ran health care.

 

Who gives a flip if you cant pay your bills and feed your family. FUBAR

 

 

[calfoxwc]

Next year, we will be registering with the program that gives mothers with children on assistance, coupons to procure

 

fruits and vegetables at farmer's markets.

 

We weren't in the program this year, didn't know about it in time..

 

but we still accepted about $20 worth of them, the customers knew we weren't

 

part of the program, but ... we had stuff that other vendors didn't have.

 

We grow our own stuff, that's why.

 

But unemployment is 10.2 and expected to climb even higher, as the economy gets a devastating bounce back from

 

the temp fixes that didn't even work. Experts now predict a breakdown in our economy, and just wait - the Obamao admin

 

will paint it as a failure of capitalism, of our country, to try to justify a direct, dramatic move toward a total socialist state.