Jobless rate hits 5 percent, 2-year high

Jobless rate hits 5 percent, 2-year high

Hiring practically stalled in December, driving the nation's unemployment rate up to a two-year high of 5 percent and fanning fears of a recession.
Employers last month added the fewest new jobs to their payrolls in more than four years, according to the employment report released Friday by the Labor Department. The report showed that employment conditions are deteriorating, strained by a housing slump and credit crunch that are sapping economic strength.

"The economy is getting hit by some body blows. The big question is whether the economy can withstand it or will it take a fall," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

(visit the link for the full news article)

News Link

Sorry for some reason my link wasnt correct above is the right link

[edit on 4-1-2008 by SEEWHATUDO]

mod edit: fixed link

[edit on 1/4/2008 by Gools]

Wow! A quadruple wammy this week. Retail sales are down, home sales way down, oil went over $100 and now Jobless rate hits 5%.
I know some on this board feel that this number should be much higher than 5% that the percentage is skewed.
So what is the next ball to drop? Any guesses....

News Link
(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod edit: fixed link

[edit on 1/4/2008 by Gools]

here we go now the balls rolling...
News Link

Stocks lost ground Friday after the government's much-anticipated employment report showed weaker-than-expected job growth and a rise in the unemployment rate. The major indexes each fell more than 1 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which lost more than 200 points.

The Labor Department's report employers raised payrolls by only 18,000 and that the nation's unemployment rate rose to its highest level since November 2005 unnerved investors worried that a weakening job market will hurt consumer spending

mod edit: fixed link


[edit on 1/4/2008 by Gools]

and more great news

Service sector growth slows in December
News Link

The nation's service sector grew in December at a pace slightly slower than the month before, providing more evidence that the U.S. economy is struggling because of higher oil prices and a tight credit market.

Mod edit: link

[edit on 1/4/2008 by Gools]

I remember going to a job fair, in 2002, where I was competing against 800 applicants for 1 job! The guy ahead of me had a Doctorate degree and lost his job at a local university. I walked out.

The government added 31,000 jobs in December, while private employers actually cut payrolls by 13,000, underscoring the weakness.

This is the part that was telling to me. Does not bode well.

Sorry everybody I suck at links
hopefully a wonderful, brilliant mod will come and fix all of my links
please!!!

reply to post by thistle


nope and just on my personal experience...My brother in law works for the ATF he recieved a 4% raise in 2007 AND a 10% cost of living raise.
Wish we could all get that cost of living raise, we might not be in this situation.
The government gives cost of living raises of 10% but is still denying signifigant inflation, hhhmmm?

I would love to know just-exactly-when those new jobs were given out. I believe the incoming December figures might have been so bad that the Feds pulled a fast-one.

If you read carefully and do the basic math, it's apparent: the Government was the "employer" that created those jobs! Here are the exact quotes from the AP newswire:

Total payrolls — both private employers and government — grew by just 18,000 last month..

The government added 31,000 jobs in December, while private employers actually cut payrolls by 13,000, underscoring the weakness.

Now, do the math:

31,000 minus 13,000 equals 18,000. The Total payroll ended up "growing" only because the government created jobs. Had those jobs not been created, the numbers would have been much more in line with what most of us see and suspect. I personally believe that the government is manipulating numbers to offset and delay the truth about recessionary times.

reply to post by Zoltan


yep your not the only one who believes the #'s are skewed.
I wonder what this means for our service industry country?
If people cant afford to eat out, go on vacation, pay for drycleaning, go to the movies... well you see where this is going. It is a boulder rolling downhill and it is only going to get bigger as our service industries die out slowly when we can no longer afford them.

We are getting slammed with woeful main stream news about our economy today.
You know the stuffs hit the fan when this much doom and gloom is on the fornt page of yahoo news.

Government stat's are for Wall Street's ears only.
I've been pleasantly surprised to see seasoned business-economic consultants on several TV talk shows in recent weeks telling like it really is (the spectrum of economic woes, their origination, and their consequences) and the first thing they all said was that gov't #'s are EXTREMELY misrepresented.

As for the unemployment #'s - they're the biggest misrepresentation of all since there's no way to track the real unemployment rate unless an accurate nationwide census type of survey is done. [Once an unemployed worker stops receiving unemployment benefits they're no longer counted among the unemployed.]

Our family knows of two mid-level banking managers (UBS and Citigroup) who were laid off in early December and in 2008 they're going to have a lot more company, unfortunately. Our country's leadership has positioned the economy to become a double-edged sword.

I had some health issues (the adenovirus) and lost job to excessive absence. I am in go mode hitting every possible networking, job fair, internet sites. The Ohio area, especially Cleveland is so depressed. I got the Sunday paper this last week. Three pages of jobs. Three. 5 yrs ago it would have been its own 12 page section. And the jobs available go for 8 to 12 an hour. I made 14.75 in high school working in a hospitals dietary kitchen. I picked a bad time to have a mid life crisis and give up my 22/hr job in dialysis because after 20 yrs I just couldn't stand it another day. If it wasn't for liquidating my 401, and a hefty home equity allowance I'd be posting from a library with my shopping cart parked outside. There was just an article today in newnet5.com that local movers are reporting a huge surge of families relocating out of Ohio. North Carolina is looking better and better to me. I bought my house for 99k 15 yrs ago, the 18/36 inground pool is rare in these parts. Recent appraisal listed around 180k.
Time for this birdie to fly.

I feel for you JPM, thankfully we are still employed but we are employed by service industries so when the money dries up so does our employment. Trickle down economics working over time, lol.

NASDAQ was done nearly 4%!

these markets are looking quite ugly.

reply to post by infinite


If I had the energy and time I would make a thread about this so maybe someone else can.

No one has noticed or posted or apparently even cared that today the DOW finished is lowest point since last April first big sell off.

Somewhere around 8% down from the DOW's high over the summer.

The part of the jobless/unemployment rate is that if you were drawing unemployment and it ran out you are no longer counted in the unemployment rate.

Take me for example : I dont draw unemployment as I am self employed and Yes I pay taxes Annualy. I dont pay into unemployment as its a rip off and I find work by cutting my hourly cost to survive. Survival is the key word for me.

I know many people who are out of work and unemployment checks are not even enough to pay for utilities, ( check for 2 weeks unemployment $212 ) ..

Our Nation is spiraling down into the abyss and it's main cause is (Greed/Corruption)..

2008 does not look so good if the year starts like this..

The place where I work is hiring though rather slowly because they have such high standards for people it is unreal. It does not take what they are requesting to do the job that is being done.

The main problem though is that it is 12 hour rotating shifts, so not many people want that. The pay for this area is okay and at least I’m employed. The job itself sucks but again at least I’m employed. I am going to school though to get a better job when I get my degree. One reason besides being a job I resent is that I don’t know how long it will be here. A few years ago the company was bought out by an investment group that has since closed places and sold some in other places, so I’m not sure how much longer they will keep us. I guess as long as the place where I work remains one of the upper money makers they will keep us but who knows.

The job listing here are often two and three pages long but this is a small area still. But those jobs are also either nurses or over the road drivers and I am unqualified for either. The jobs though pay great for the cost of living in this area though, so if you’re a nurse looking for a job this is the place to come I guess.

Raist

Fed caused a recession

Very interesting view point from a very smart man.
All should watch, asap

like to point out;

For the week, the Dow tumbled 4.2%, the Nasdaq 6.35% and the S&P 500l 4.5%

That's ugly for the week, likely to continue