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View Full Version : Job Losses Buffet U.S. Early, Compounding the Downturn



Psychoblues
10-27-2008, 01:30 AM
This ain't gonna be pretty, folks. Strap in tight. It's gonna be a bumpy ride!!!!!!

Source: WSJ
OCTOBER 27, 2008
By KRIS MAHER

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A rash of new job data show the labor market is now the worst it's been since the two prior recessions in 2001 and the early 1990s. One of the starkest indicators is that the number of people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more reached two million in September. That's 21% of the total unemployed, and approaching the prior peaks of about 23% in 2003 and 1992. The prospects of these job seekers grow dimmer as layoffs spread beyond the financial, home-building and auto industries.

Also in September, companies saw 2,269 mass layoffs -- in which at least 50 people are let go at once -- more than at any time since September 2001. And while the unemployment rate is at a five-year high at 6.1%, a broader measure of weakness that includes people who have stopped looking for work or whose hours have been cut to part-time is 11% -- the highest in 15 years. What worries many economists is that labor markets usually reach their weakest point after a recession has ended. During the so-called "jobless recovery" following the 2001 recession, jobs continued to be shed after it was officially declared over. But the current weakness comes as the country heads into a recession that is now forecast to be deeper and longer than previously thought........................................... ...

This month, consumer-products companies PepsiCo Inc. and Whirlpool Corp. announced job cuts of 3,300 and 440, respectively. On Thursday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it would cut 3,260 jobs, or about 10% of its work force, Xerox Corp. said it would cut 3,000 people, and Chrysler LLC said it would eliminate 1,825 jobs. Chrysler announced an additional 5,000 cuts on Friday. Layoffs have spread to sock makers, book publishers, airlines and hydraulic-parts makers. On Thursday, the Labor Department said new applications for unemployment insurance rose 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 478,000 in the prior week, above analysts' estimates of 470,000. Immediate relief in the form of extending unemployment benefits could help cushion the downturn, worker-advocacy groups argue.

Last month, the House passed an extension of seven weeks for workers whose benefits have run out, and an added 13 weeks for workers in states with unemployment rates above 6%. Several hundred thousand people have already exhausted a 13-week extension enacted this summer for people whose standard 26 weeks of benefits had run out. Many are their sole family supporters. The latest bill has yet to be voted on by the Senate.

More: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122506536068970527.html

The 'lil one could help if only he had an ounce of credibility left.

:salute::cheers2::clap::laugh2::cheers2::salute: