U.S. employers cut 345,000 jobs last month, the fewest since September and far less than forecast, according to a government report on Friday that was the most definitive evidence the economy’s severe weakness was diminishing.
However, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate raced to 9.4 percent, the highest since a matching rate in July 1983, from 8.9 percent in April. This reading beat the peak in the jobless rate during the 1973-1975 recession that lasted 16 months.
But it was both a surge in new labor force entrants and a drop in employment that pushed the jobless rate up a half-percentage point. The May report showed a jump of 350,00 in the labor force. In April, the increase was just 120,000.
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
March and April’s job losses were revised down to show smaller declines of 652,000 and 504,000, respectively, meaning 82,000 fewer jobs were lost in those months than previously reported.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast non-farm payrolls dropping 520,000 in May. The unemployment rate had been forecast to rise to 9.2 percent.
June 5th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Folks who read my blog are doing great right now!
http://cheapogroovo.vox.com
June 5th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Jobs up unemployment down, up down turn around what the fuck. Am I the only one who can’t follow what the hell is going on with jobs? I tell you I really don’t care anymore about these stats, because it doesn’t count the poor slob who “just gave up permanently” on looking for work, so the whole % thing doesn’t add up anyhow. It only sucks when “you” are out of work…right?
June 5th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
They’re going by how many people filed for unemployment for that month. They don’t take into consideration how many peoples unemployment ran out.
June 6th, 2009 at 2:03 am
The comparison of the jobless rate with historic values from the seventies or the eighties is inappropriate because the measurement method has changed since the Clinton era.
If you want to see some realistic rates go here:
http://www.shadowstats.com/
Current real unemployment rate is over 20%, that’s almost 32 million Americans without job!
June 6th, 2009 at 5:38 am
My question is, how many jobs can you lose? I mean, these numbers lie, and can be manipulated to say whatever they want them to say. If you have 500K people out of work a month for 4 months, and then 1 month with 350K people out of a job, don’t those numbers add up to staggering unemployment. Those 500k people unemployed didn’t magically find jobs over night, it’s a cumulative number. How many have to be unemployed, before it’s looked at as a true crisis ?
Dumbasses on wall street nearly s*it and fell back in it with joy that only 350K people lost their jobs last month. Does anyone else not think the unemployment is more along the lines of 20% or higher?
How many jobs have to vanish forever, before the unemployment rate will slow on it’s own, not because of a growing economy, but because there are simply no more jobs to be lost.
Νικ Reply:
June 6th, 2009 at 8:18 am
“How many have to be unemployed, before it’s looked at as a true crisis ?”
I would say, the 10% is something like a psychological barrier.If the rate exceed this number they will probable introduce another statistical trick to “fix” it again, like Clinton did.
The governments are in fear, so they manipulating the unemployment stats in order to continue robbing the people through the capitalistic production.They will never let the official number go significantly up.Its up to us to get informed and stage a revolution to overthrow this criminal establishment!
June 6th, 2009 at 5:50 am
Say what you will about Communist PUtin, the fact is that he knows who the rogues are and deals with them.ASAP. Read and respect and pray some day our corrupt idiot leaders do something similar.
http://english.pravda.ru/russi.....ikalyovo-0
Putin publicly humiliates business tycoons solving social crisis in Russian town
Russia’s Prime Minister Putin arrived in the town of Pikalyovo, the Leningrad region, after crowds of the local residents took to the streets and blocked a motorway protesting over unpaid salaries. Three major enterprises of the town were shut down, and nearly all of the townsfolk found themselves unemployed.
Putin harshly criticized the authorities of the Leningrad region upon his arrival in the town.
“If you can’t come to an agreement with each other to solve the problem, it will be done without you,” Putin said addressing top officials and the governor of the Leningrad region.
Putin forced the local authorities to pay the salary debts entirely – 41.2 million rubles – within only one day.
When the three major enterprises of the town were shut down, the locals lost their jobs and had their homes cut from hot water supplies: the boiler-house was shut down too.
“Why did you make everything look like a dump here?” Putin asked local officials during the tour of the troubled enterprises – the cement, alumina and the chemical works. The enterprises belong to different owners with Oleg Deripaska’s Bazel being the largest one of them (Deripaska used to be ranked as Russia’s richest men).
“The worst thing that they could do not to make me go there was to start violating the law. I think that it was done in collusion with those who did not want me to arrive in the town,” Putin said later during a meeting with representatives of trade unions in Moscow .
Oleg Deripaska, whose fortune was evaluated at $28 billion last year, was being very nervous during the meeting with Putin in Pikalyovo. He forgot to sign the contract about the delivery of supplies for idle enterprises to resume operations.
“Has Oleg Vladimirovich (Deripaska) signed? I do not see his signature. Come here and sign it,” Putin said, throwing a pen onto the table.
Deripaska signed the document, stood up and left holding the pen in his hand.
“Give the pen back!” Putin told him.
“You have made thousands of people hostage to your ambitions, your lack of professionalism – or maybe simply your trivial greed,” Putin told Deripaska and two other businessmen who own cement and alumina factories in Pikalyovo.
“Where is the social responsibility of business? Where is it? We keep talking about it non-stop. No one in the administration will ever convince me of the fact that the regional administration has done all they could to help the people. When I told you that I was going to come here, what did you tell me? You said that I shouldn’t, you said that you would show me a different enterprise. Why was everyone running about like cockroaches here before my arrival?” the prime minister said giving a heavy look to Leningrad region Governor Valery Serdyukov.
The problem has been solved. The enterprises in the town will resume their activities, the people will have their jobs and wages back.
Νικ Reply:
June 6th, 2009 at 10:26 am
That´s why the West doesn’t like Putin.He is a guy your better not tangle with him! The capitalists hate such people because they cant control them!
June 6th, 2009 at 7:30 am
do you believe anything that is uttered from those dirty bastards in the district of criminals?
June 6th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
ALL economic TRUTH SEEKERS you must visit this economic website immediately.
http://www.avaresearch.com/
Mike Stathis of AVA Research runs a highly respected economic intelligence website that provides uncensored economic truth. Most of the information on this site is FREE of charge and provides insightful information that NO corporate media site will speak about.
http://www.avaresearch.com/
Mike Stathis is one of a few economic figures who speaks the TRUTH. Anyone frustrated with the economic bail-outs or has lost money in the stock market needs to visit this website NOW.
http://www.avaresearch.com/
Mike Stathis has been blackballed by the mainstream media due to his highly accurate financial forecasts. He is not allowed on the air at CNBC or FOX Business. The corporate media wants Stathis censored BIG-TIME because he speaks the TRUTH.
Stathis has written volumes about what is happening today, especially the seminal book “America’s Financial Apocalypse” written in 2006. His books are readily available on Amazon.com.
Please do your financial future a favor and check out:
http://www.avaresearch.com/