Washington, December 6: You do not have to be an expert to gauge what is happening in the job market. Name any sector and that is trimming jobs. Data released by the government suggests that November was the nastiest month in recent times with regard to layoffs.
" title="Job report makes public the grim economic scenario"/>
Washington, December 6: You do not have to be an expert to gauge what is happening in the job market. Name any sector and that is trimming jobs. Data released by the government suggests that November was the nastiest month in recent times with regard to layoffs.
Every industry in the United States has slashed jobs and slashed them in higher numbers than what the analysts expected. In all 533,000 net positions were removed. A scenario worse than this was witnessed way back in 1973.
The unemployment rate increased from 6.5 to 6.7 percent, the highest since 1993. Frankly speaking, the rate of unemployment would have risen much more but the fact that many out of work have stopped searching for work, decelerated it.
In recent times, the unemployment rate per se has lost its significance as an important indicator of economic health. Reason being that there has been a substantial increase in dropouts from the labor force, i.e. a person interested in working but not having a job and not looking for one is not termed as unemployed.
Likewise, the entry of women into the work force makes comparison of current unemployment rates with the unemployment rates of the earlier decades a comparison of apples and oranges. The rate surpassed 10 percent in the early 1980s but that in no way means that the current job market is healthier.
‘Horrendous’, ‘dreadful’ ‘almost indescribably terrible’ were some of the few reactions by taken aback economists and corporates. Morgan Stanley economists said, "Quite simply, there was nothing good in this report."
There exists an alternate measure of unemployment, which takes into consideration part-time workers willing to work full-time and anyone who has searched for a job in the last one year. Evaluation by this method also gave a dismal picture as the rate stood at 12.5 percent, the highest since inception.
One silver lining in the dark report; pay had not yet started to plunge harshly. Hope, it remains that way.
Patriotic Duty
The economy made me do it...I'm sorry but AT&T, DuPont and the like are big enough and powerful enough to keep workers employed during this recession instead of firing 5,000 here, 20,000 there, and making the economy even weaker. Why don't the huge companies in this country show some real corporate leadership and make a pact with each other to keep workers employed during this recession? Consumers would continue spending because they'd actually have money because they'd actually have jobs. After a couple of months, people would begin to trust again and spending habits would be restored. A serious show of good-will from Corporate America would fix our economy and establish America as a civilized, genuinely compassionate 21st Century corporatocracy. There is no rule that says corporations can’t be a force for good.