US News
US job losses for third month stoke recession fears figure (Roundup)
Apr 4, 2008, 15:43 GMT
Washington - The US economy shed jobs for the third straight month as unemployment climbed to 5.1 per cent in March, the US government said Friday in another stark sign that the world's largest economy has entered a recession.
A total of 80,000 jobs were lost in March, the highest monthly decline in five years, raising the jobless rate from 4.8 per cent in February.
The US Department of Labour also revised upwards the number of jobs cut in January and February, bringing the total lost since the beginning of the year to 232,000.
The number of unemployed rose by 434,000 to 7.8 million in March amid declines particularly in the construction, manufacturing and employment services branches, the department said.
'If you're ever going to ring a bell on a recession, these numbers do it,' Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial told Bloomberg Television.
The International Monetary Fund's chief economist Simon Johnson on Thursday warned the US economy had come to a 'virtual standstill' as media reported the IMF had cut its US growth forecast to 0.5 per cent for 2008.
Earlier this week, US central bank head Ben Bernanke for the first time acknowledged a US recession was 'possible' in the first half of 2008, though he said the Federal Reserve was still forecasting slight growth.
Economic growth in the last quarter of 2007 was 0.6 per cent as a crisis in the US housing and financial sectors filtered into the wider economy. Growth figures for the first three months of this year will not be available until late April.
An estimated 1.1 million people have joined the US jobless rolls over the past year as the unemployment rate has risen by 0.7 percentage points compared to Match 2007, the Labour Department said.
Hispanic workers, who have a large presence in the construction industry, were most affected, with an unemployment rate of 6.9 per cent compared to 4.6 per cent for adult men and women.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
I can't wait to see the 100 day pullout....or the Obama economic stimulous plan....how he plans to deal with CAFTA, or Iran...
Maybe his preacher will be the Ambassador?
Nope, I've been converted....He has little experience, abused drugs, never served...heck, he's just like Clinton and Bush!
'...yeees...this is th President....oh! Heloo Senatah...Obama, rahght?...always sounds irish t me boyh!...what cin ah do fer ya?....
'I rak???....yeah son, ah knoow whire it is....evin been thire a couple o tahmes....what aboout it.....ya what?....withdrawl?....not t'day son...we're kickin ass an takin names...!'
'ya gotta plan?...no kiddin...haven't heard a good one yet, but by all means son, I'm happy t hear anythin ya got!....lesseee....pull out...to 60 thousand...maybah 80,000...indefinitely....gee Barak...sounds a lot lahke 2005 t' me, but what th haell!'
'Barak....Barak....quit ya scremin Barak, ya sound lahke thit bowleggged wahfe o Bills....ah knooow mee too! N' wondah he wuz runnin a smokin room unna th desk....ree lax boyh, ah'm out in 10 months an thiss'll all be sum un elses thing....'
'N' Barak.....ah cin't say ya gonna have any luck sellin this....but look at it this a way....ah got the heavah liftin done...if you or that ol shrew wins, ya cin lahkly draw down anyways, ya git thim sheep ya call constituants off ya back fer 14 months, or so....an thit gits ya TA 2012! Haell boyh...it's a win-win! '
'MCCain?....heck boyh, he ain't evin called! Beats me..guiss he's fund raisin or sumpin...waell, gotta go...ol Putin's callin...hey, if thit ol Gore comes a callin with a couple o briefcases..make sure ya don't touch em. If'n ya win, I'll leave sum o thim salmon flavored cee gars in the desk fer ya...ol Bill left em...nevah could figyah out whire he gits em...?'
Try portraying a new character:
Someone intelligent
I know it's a reach, but give it a shot.
The US is already in a recession. It has been for months now, how stupid Americans are.
...we're an upbeat nation, so relax, this is going to take some time. What was everyone thinking?...no domestic oil output, outsourced manufacturing, ramrodded by a decade of anti-manufacturing liberalism, turning food into fuel....hell, Mr. Wang, we had it coming.
You can't have a supply side economy without the supply.
As for the other poster, I was portraying someone intelligent...and, of course, it was not you.
Bush wouldn't know anything about the economy - he's never had to worry about finances. If he would come down off his self-appointed throne he would see that grocery prices are going sky high, gasoline is going the same way, people are losing their jobs by the thousands as a lot of companies are either cutting back because of lack of business or are closing completely. The housing market is horrific, etc., etc.. His mind (??) has been so wrapped up in Iraq and winning (??) that he isn't in tune with anything else! Now he is flying around the world claiming he is trying to cement good relations - not good!
Grocery prices are sky high due to the fact that your libnazi buddies and their republican friends both think corn is a fuel and not a feedstock. Last week I had Tonny decrying the poor farmer when wheat in America goes for $12.00 a bushel!
Bush has nothing to do with the price of oil, and has advocated opening up ANWR his whole time in office, plus has pushed a Hydrogen iniative that no one will acknowledge, so you'll have to find someone else to blame. We've wasted decades in not permitting oil exploration on our coasts and now it's come home to roost. Go to the pumps Jeff, and be happy.
Your libnazi buddies investment bankers, who fund that party, made big $$ on greasy home loans and now, somehow that is Bush's fault, even while Hillary's campaign manager is on the board of a defunct mortgage investment firm. Ever wonder why Hillary wants to bail out homeowners? Ask he campaign manager.
As for the rest of America, car companies were sick before all this, so their layoffs are hardly Bush's fault. The rest of our consumer economy is going to get sicker, which may be a wake up call to start asking the dems to quit attacking every kind of business in America with their trial lawyers lawsuits, and then e can begin rebuilding our manufacturing sector, which has constraints no other nation on earth puts on their manufacturers.
So Jeff, if you would get the libnazi contingency to start putting you first, instead of their investment bankers, trial lawyers and enviroradicals, I'd appreciate it.
So SP4 you are now telling us Bush has no influence on the economy .I disti,ctly remember you praising Bush for providing the USA with record employment,record economical growth,record exports,te economy going through the roof .Funny enough that wa oly a few weeks ago .Oh ,your hero was such a genius then,responsible for all the successes in the economy .Look at you now...suddenly you claim the democrats responsible for the economy .Who do you think you are fooling ?
..then I would have to ask the question: If Bush was NOT responsible for the last 5 years, why should he be held responsible for what is happening NOW?
In a supply side economy, you have to have a supply...
The master of the 'know all, tell all' has blinders on! If we aren't in a recession, then we have one foot over the chasm and we're fast losing balance.
page: 1
George W BushApr 4th, 2008 - 18:25:47
''Don't worry folks, the economy is strong and surging. In fact it's so strong and so surging, I'm living the American dream right now with SP4. And I might add, we're kicking Al-Qaeda's Muslim ass everyday in Iraq; it's like a great big turkey shoot and our boys are really enjoyin' themselves. Also, I'll endorse anybody who gets this job.......hell, if I can do it, anybody can.''
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