That’s the highest number since 1983. We lost 467,000 non-farm jobs in June which was worse than analysts had predicated. The average working week is 33 hours, that’s the shortest week since the Labor Department started keeping track (1964).
And the construction industry lost 79,000 jobs:
For the specific industry sectors tracked by the government, manufacturing and professional and business services took the brunt of the pain in June. Manufacturing jobs contracted by 136,000 people, while construction jobs shed 79,000 people. Retail lost 21,000 people while the business service industry shed 118,000 jobs.
The number of part-time workers who want to work full time has doubled since the beginning of the recession:
The number of people considered “involuntary part-time” workers, or citizens wanting to work full time but for job or economic reasons cannot do so, remained at 9 million people. That figure is up 4.4 million from the start of the recession.
Total unemployment, which includes involuntary part-time and discouraged workers among others, rose to 16.5% – showing that this recession has impacted about one of six workers in the U.S.
So, it looks like the president’s stimulus package hasn’t lived up to his hype, maybe that’s why he’s losing support among Independents.
So, what do you think? Obama doing a good job on the economy or it’s really not his fault since it’s beyond his control? Or is it all Bush’s fault?
And then there’s this:
@markknoller Though WH thinks worst job losses may be behind us, still expects the unemployment rate to hit 10% in next month or two.
Um…if they’re expecting 10% unemployment the worst hasn’t happened yet, right? And remember this is from the same guy who promised that if they passed the stimulus, unemployment wouldn’t go above 8%. Yeah, this is what you get when you accept the economic predictions of a politician.
posted July 2, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Obama doing a good job on the economy or it’s really not his fault since it’s beyond his control?
It’s probably just like Bush’s job on domestic terrorism post-9/11 … Imagine how bad it would be if we did nothing!
Still too early.
Actually, the bigger question on my mind is when will a foreign nation come and put a stop to the violence occurring on our city streets. Is this the price freedom, that we can’t manage to police ourselves?
OH, the conditions allowed in the name of Freedom.
posted July 2, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Remember that unemployment is a lagging indicator. When an economy goes into recession it is low and actually peaks after the economy turns the corner. This is because employers won’t hire until they’re sure the bad times are gone. So it is possible the worst is over and yet have unemployment go up.
In general I think presidents can’t really do that much for the economy. So while I honestly have no idea if the stimulus is doing any good, I suspect it isn’t doing that much.
posted July 2, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Given the mess he was handed by the cut-taxes, don’t regulate the markets crowd, I think this is the best we can expect. A stimulus can’t turn things around overnight. It took the fiscal conservatives/anti-regulators a long time to get us in this mess, so it isn’t going to be solved easily.
posted July 2, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Let me just say how much I love the obviously leering tone of this article. I can practically hear your wheezy little giggle as you write these words, relishing in others economic misfortune because it gives you the chance to criticize our president who has been in office for less than 200 days now.
Considering that stimulus money is still going out, and the plan has yet to take full effect, don’t you think your judgments are jumping the gun? Yes, the unemployment rate has risen above what the president estimated, but predicting how a recession will turn out isn’t an exact science. Much like placing gauze over a bleeding wound, the blood flow doesn’t just stop. It takes time, but eventually the bleeding ceases. Articles like this do nothing but create further division.
posted July 2, 2009 at 11:24 pm
:I can practically hear your wheezy little giggle as you write these words, relishing in others economic misfortune because it gives you the chance to criticize our president who has been in office for less than 200 days now.”
Actually, I’m saddened that so many have to suffer while the government does nothing to help. And I don’t wheeze while I giggle.
posted July 3, 2009 at 8:22 am
Is President Obama doing a good job? As well as conservatives, both the entire Republican Party and the blue-dog Dems will go along with. And much, much better than our alternate choice would have done. I’m just happy that we have a President like Obama, rather than our alternate choice, McCain. With McCain, our situation would have been much worse, and continuing to worsen.
At least there is a glimmer of hope that the confluence of conservative policies that has taken us to this point will be countered sufficiently to bring us closer to prosperity and much fuller employment.
But such success won’t come from the hands of conservatives; they’re the ones who gleefully positioned our country for this situation. [Sure, some of the Dems helped - there are plenty of conservative Dems out there.]
posted July 3, 2009 at 10:26 am
The foolish $700B+ “stimulus” legislation has already crapped out: these figures are far worse than the ones the White House warned us about if we DIDN’T pass the bill- but it was passed, and still unemployment soars?
Instead of creating jobs, interest rates were bumped up, the dollar slid… while there are little actual economic benefits from this spending. Much of this is due to the fact that Obama’s anti-business agenda has mortified almost every machine of job-and-growth creation in the country. The Democrats just HAD to insist on tax-n-spend, rather than a tax holiday for, say, six months… can you imagine how things would be doing with a $700B tax cut instead?
And the One couldn’t deliver the type of “temporary, targeted, and timely” bill that he promised for weeks, either. Irregardless of his beautified image, in reality Obama lacks the the political stature to control Pelosi and Reid… who hit the trough hard, while bickering like siblings.
The lack of GOP co-conspirators exposed Obama politically… this legislation now looks to be a HUGE gamble. And when all this pork-n-welfare fails to generate any real economic gains… the Democrats could face a bloodbath in 2010.
One could make the argument that Obama knows his legacy will be in tatters by 2012, and could care less how much damage his radical programs do to the economy. He’s therefore ramming-through as much of his far-left agenda as he can before the day comes when people cringe at the mere mention of his name-
Sure seems like it.
posted July 5, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Reaganite Republican -
Reagan, Bush and Bush ran huge deficits caused by unjustifiable tax cuts, even in good times and they didn’t do that much for the economy. Spending works better than tax cuts. All economists know that. Even Friedman did. The fools at the Club to Growth couldn’t help the economy if their lives depended on it.