Employers added 290,000 jobs in April according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was the biggest increase in four years. The jobless rate rose to 9.9% because more people are looking for work again.
The BLS says the unemployment rate for whites (9.0 percent)
edged up in April, while the rates for adult men (10.1 percent), adult women
(8.2 percent), teenagers (25.4 percent), blacks (16.5 percent), and Hispanics
(12.5 percent) showed little or no change.
The BLS says the biggest gains in April came in manufacturing, professional and business services, health care, and leisure and hospitality. The April jump is also partially thanks to 66,000 temporary workers hired for the decennial census.
Michael Carey, chief economist for North America at Credit Agricole CIB, thinks the economy could add 2 million jobs in 2010. Take a look:
Amidst all the talk of a recovery the country continues to lose jobs and the unemployment rate keeps rising. Unemployment climbed to 10.2% in October according to the Department of Labor's jobs report. Marketwatch says this is despite the fact that the economy grew 3.2% in the third quarter.
The October jobs report shows a growing disconnect between a recovery in economic output and continued job losses. The economy grew at a 3.2% annual rate in the third quarter, with productivity rising at a 9.5% rate.
"The grinding pace of progress in labor markets likely flags a tepid economic recovery," wrote Sal Guatieri, an economist for BMO Capital Markets.
The report was worse than expected. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were forecasting a rise in the unemployment rate to 10%, with 150,000 lost payroll jobs. An upward revision to August and September payrolls cushioned some of the disappointment, however.
The 3.2% growth is likely from the Cash for Clunkers program and the infusion of cash by the government. The economy is likely to contract again if a way to create jobs is not found soon. 190,000 jobs were lost in October. It was the 22nd straight month the U.S. economy lost jobs.
President Obama Says Unemployment Rate Will Reach 10%
Bloombergreports that President Obama acknowledged today that the unemployment rate is going to pass the 10% mark this year.
"You're starting to see the engines of the economy turn," Obama said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the White House. "It's going to take a long time -- we had a huge de-leveraging that took place."
Obama acknowledged that unemployment lines may keep growing despite government efforts to boost economic growth, saying he's confident an expansion will begin "shortly." His outlook mirrors the forecasts of private economists who predict a jobless rate of 10 percent -- a level unseen since 1983 -- by the final three months of the year.
"What you've seen is that the pace of job loss has slowed," the president said. "The economy is going to turn around, but as you know, jobs are a lagging indicator and we've got to produce 150,000 jobs every month just to keep pace, just to flatten this out."
Hopefully, President Obama is correct but there have not yet been signs of a turnaround and losing 345,000 jobs in a month - like we did in May - is not much of a slowdown.
Many economists welcomed the May jobs report as a positive sign even though the economy lost anouther 345,000 jobs and unemployment climbed to 9.4%. The optimism is only there because there were genuine fears the economy was in a terrifying free-fall.
Economists described the Labor Department's monthly jobs report, released Friday, as an unambiguous sign of improvement, yet also clear evidence of broadening national distress, as millions of households grapple with joblessness and lost working hours.
The fact that a report showing the highest unemployment rate in more than a quarter-century was embraced optimistically testified to the stark fears over the economy in recent months.
"The free fall that the job market was in does finally appear to be tapering off," said Stuart G. Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh. "It's the prelude to an economic and job recovery later this year."
VOA Newsreports that the unemployment rate is currently higher than the White House and analysts had expected and forecasted months ago.
The White House says America's employment picture is worse than the Obama administration had anticipated just a few months ago. The somber admission follows the latest jobless report showing the highest unemployment rate the United States has seen in more than 25 years.
U.S. unemployment jumped a half percent in May, to 9.4 percent prompting this comment by Austan Goolsbee, a member of President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisors:
"The economy clearly has gotten substantially worse from the initial predictions that were being made, not just by the White House, but by all of the private sector," said Austan Goolsbee.
The high unemployment rate is likely why President Obama announced a new plan (PDF file) to create jobs today. The Christian Science Monitornotes that the plan has little room for error.
Yet the administration is still in rescue mode. On Monday, it formally announced its plan to step up its recovery efforts and create 600,000 jobs, including 125,000 summer jobs for youth.
This may be a good thing. A recession that's moderating is still a recession. People are still losing their jobs at a faster rate than they’re finding new ones. Supporters of continued stimulus are those who see no recovery this year – or such a weak one that it will still feel like recession.
But the economy moves so fast – and government stimulus moves so slowly – that the administration risks falling behind the curve.
Several experts quoted here in a U.S. News article say they expect job losses to continue to moderate but the unemployment rate is still expected to come closer to or exceed 10%.
Job losses may moderate but it could be difficult to estimate the fallout from the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies. Retail sales in May were also weak and another weak month or two could result in more layoffs in the retail industry. There are many unknowns we have to yet to face in this recession.
