Employers cut 467,000 jobs in June
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Job seekers line up for a career fair, Thursday, July 2, 2009 in Oak Brook, IL. Employers nationally cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate climbed to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent.
Published: July 3, 2009
Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, and the unemployment rate climbed to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent.
Workers also saw weekly wages fall, suggesting Americans will have little appetite to spend and that the economy's road to recovery will be bumpy.
The Labor Department report, released yesterday, showed that even as the recession flashes signs of easing, companies likely will want to keep a lid on costs and be wary of hiring until they feel certain the economy is on solid ground.
Dean Croushore, associate professor of economics at the University of Richmond, said employment is not expected to improve until other sectors of the economy pick up, such as retail sales, income and the housing market.
"We'll probably see a couple more months of declines before they get more reasonable," he said.
He predicted the national unemployment rate could hit 10 percent. "That would be about the top."
The Virginia Employment Commission reported last week that the jobless rate in the Richmond area rose to 8.1 percent in May from 7.5 percent in April, more than double what it was a year ago. Statewide, the rate was 7 percent in May, up from 6.6 in April. The local June numbers have not been released.
Nationally, June's payroll reductions were deeper than the 363,000 that economists expected, and average weekly earnings dropped to the lowest level in nearly a year.
However, the rise in the unemployment rate from 9.4 percent in May wasn't as sharp as the expected 9.6 percent.
All told, 14.7 million people were unemployed in June.
If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994.
"We were on the road of things getting less bad in the jobs market, and that has been temporarily waylaid," said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. "But this doesn't change my view that the recession will end later this year. We're probably two months away."
Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 6.5 million jobs.
As the downturn bites into sales and profits, companies have turned to layoffs and other cost-cutting measures to survive. Those include holding down workers' hours and freezing or cutting pay.
The average workweek in June fell to 33 hours, the lowest on records dating to 1964.
Even with higher pace of job cuts in June, the report indicates that the worst of the layoffs has passed. The deepest job cuts of the recession came in January, when 741,000 jobs vanished, the most in any month since 1949.
Job losses last month were widespread.
Professional and business services slashed 118,000 jobs, more than double the 48,000 cut in May. Manufacturers cut 136,000, down from 156,000. Construction companies got rid of 79,000 jobs, up from 48,000 the previous month. Retailers eliminated 21,000, up from 17,600. Financial activities cut 27,000, following 30,000 in May. The government cut 52,000 jobs, up from 10,000 the previous month. Leisure and hospitality cut 18,000 jobs, erasing a gain of the same size in May.
One of the few industries adding jobs: education and health services, which added 34,000 positions last month and 47,000 in May.
The Associated Press and staff writer Carol Hazard contributed to this report.
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Reader Reactions
oneuser, it is going to get much worse.With cap and trade, the US will be the ONLY country in the world imposing a tax on all companies that produce products that emit carbon gasses. The production of most products requires the emmission of greenhouse gases. So the US will fall farther behind in producing and selling your everyday products.
Furthermore, another reader wrote that small businesses are hiring low paid illegal Mexicans. Why? because Obama and other politicos refuse to build a border.
One of the greatest things this country has going for it, is that people from all around the world want to live here because of the opportunities (even though Obama and gang are limiting them) that exist. We can have our choice from the brightes and hardest working people in the world; physicists, Drs, philosophers, artists, teachers, scientists….
And who do we decide to let in to this great country? Hundreds of thousands of illegal lettuce pickers. Our great friends in CA argue that Americans won’t do this kind of work. We need the Mexicans. BS!!! Never in the history of America do I recall that Americans starved to death because they wouldnt harvest their crops.
When the slaves were freed alot of idiots wondered who would ever pick the cotton? Then along came Eli Whitney and the cotton gin. Neccisity is the mother of invention.
Build a fence. Marshal who we let into this country. We have risked countless lives to build the greatest country in the world. Why not use this leverage for our benfit. We can still let people in here, they just have to do it the right and legal way.
We are loosing all these jobs but has anyone looked at the products we buy? Most from China and Mexico. Every time you buy this stuff from off shore you help put yourselves out of jobs. I had to stop buying Ultra Brite toothpaste. It is now made in Mexico. Read the labels and you will see who is now working your jobs. Directly or indirectly.
Why did all those executives rip off their corporations? They knew what was coming. They were in the wrong business for the future. The only big business left is the Government. The democrats are using a utopian agenda line their pockets. Combine that,with the “me” generation, the african americans who only wish to “get paid”, and we have a society too ignorant and selfish to see the big picture.And too proud to accept truth. They tout small business. Who do they hire? Low wage earners to get started? Illegal immigrants in their get rich quick scheme? Wanna keep up with the Jones’s? The Jones’s are filing backruptcy because the governement saw them as successful. The only way you are successful is because you took advantage of people and you need to be punished. Break us all they will. And in the name of good they will do it. It’s all in the bible. Good luck, going to need it.
Wealth trickles down. Wealth trickles down. Wealth trickles down. Wealth trickles down. Wealth trickles down. Wealth trickles down. Wealth trickles down.
bjcs: Multiply your situation thousands of times all over the country. No one - no one - in Washington is listening. It is inconcievable that people in positions of responsibility could be so tone-deaf to the needs of economy. It cannot be a simple matter of stupidity. Some see a diabolical conspiracy to undermine the country, but I think it’s more simple than that. Power married to arrogance can make a fool of anyone. Lot of that going around in D.C.
The people need to let the Obama admin and democratic leaders know that they do not want these socialistic policies they are setting up. It isnt working and will not work. Wealth trickles down. Every 20 or so years, there is a recession. We need to deal with the bad times. Not abandon all the principles that meade us the most financially successful country in the world. Were there things that needed changing? Of course!!! But this Obamanism wealth spreading of giving $ to failed companies while trying to tax succesful companies for their sucess (windfall profit taxes for oil companies??? We have cheapest oil products in the world due to their efficiencies. Why punish them????)Tax increases for the successfull people while giving tax refunds to those who do not work??? Giving $4000.00 to idiots who bought clunkers (How about the responsible folks who bought fuel efficient vehicles there whole life??? Nothing for them).
Mark my words, history has proven countless times that the only thing that trickle up is poverty. America (up until now) has rewarded success and punishes failure. That causes success to breed and failure to dissapear most of the time.
I own a company with about 75 employees. I am going to be fine. We are letting 3 more employees go next week. We will be trimming down healthcare benefits in September. We are preparing for higher taxes because Obama has labelled us wealthy. The result: less employees, no raises, no extra spend on any nonessential services… Now just think if Obama GAVE us incentives such as tax breaks for being successfull, we would hire more people, give raises and expand the business… But all this $$$$ is going to bailout failures. WOW!!!
Wealth trickles down. Poverty trickles up.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is clearly ‘marking to model’ to come up with a 9.5%
U-3 unemployment rate at the same time they admit job losses increased last month.
Out in California jobless claims are surging not moderating. This is not a typical recession and our economic and political leaders haven’t come to grips with that yet thus the ridiculous fiscal
and monetary responses thus far.
We are in a debt/deflation DEPRESSION and our government is responding by piling more debt onto an already struggling financial system. Should they wreck the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency we will end up in the same fix as Ireland or Spain and the unemploment rate in Spain right now is pushing 20% because they can’t print
money anymore. We’ll be there soon enough if Obama and Bernanke continue this reckless debasement of our money.
Obama, and his democrat-socialistic programs are going down as the worst in US history. He and his economic plans are absolute failures at the federal, state, and local levels. None of these problems happened until after the democrats took control of both houses of congress. American citizens need to wake-up and see who are the real culprits to this financial mess.
What effect did the Chrysler bankruptcy have on the unemployment rate? People like Rick Waggoner preached that bankruptcy would have a cascading effect on the economy. When Chrysler filed and closed all its manufacturing plants, I assume suppliers closed plants too. Some dealerships were closed - we saw it on television. So, where is the fallout?
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