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Jobless Rate Hits 5 Percent, 2-Year High
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Jan 04, 2008 01:02pm |
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| Category | Report |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Friday, January 4, 2008 06:05:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Job growth ground to a virtual halt and the unemployment rate rose sharply in December, as the effects of the housing downturn rippled through the labor market.
The jobless rate rose to 5 percent last month, up from 4.7 percent in November, the Labor Department said today. That marks the highest jobless rate in two years and the largest single-month rise in joblessness since the 2001 recession. There are 1.1 million more people looking for a job but unable to find one than there were a year ago.
Employers created 18,000 net new jobs last month, a paltry rate of job creation; economists had forecast a gain four times that size, and it would take seven times as many new jobs just to keep up with population growth. The job losses were concentrated in the construction, manufacturing and retail sectors.
"We are on the verge of recession now," said Robert Dye, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group. "We are teetering on the edge of the precipice, and it will not take much to push us over."
Economists have been counting on a strong job market to fuel Americans' incomes, helping make up for the loss of wealth due to dropping home values. Thus, the weak report was a deep disappointment. The stock market fell on the news, with the Dow Jones industrial average off 165 points at noon. |
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