July 2, 2009
Unemployment at 9.5% - and stll climbing (updated)
The figures on unemployment are out today (tomorrow is a federal holiday) and they give the lie to all the boasting done last month about the economy "turning the corner."
Another 467,000 jobs were lost last month. Despite the stimulus. Despite efforts to spur consumer spending. Despite everything, Obamanomics is strangling the economy.
Jack Healy of the New York Times has the depressing details:
Job losses were widespread among the construction, manufacturing and business and professional services sectors.The losses were sharply higher than economists' expectations of 365,000 lost jobs.
Economists said a decline of 322,000 jobs in May had raised expectations that the market was bottoming out as the economy struggled to right itself, but the numbers on Friday dashed some of those hopes.
The figures also raised questions about whether the Obama administration, which has already passed a $787 billion stimulus plan, needed to step in again to shore up the American worker.
"The stimulus has probably stabilized income, but it has not moved the economy forward," said John E. Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Corporation. "It's a finger in the dike. But in terms of getting the economy going, there's no evidence of that yet."
The latest figures highlight a somber new reality for workers, economists said. The numbers were released a day early because of the Fourth of July holiday.
As the recession enters its 20th month, private wages and salaries are falling, working hours are dwindling and more people are without work. In essence, economists say, months of deep, broad job losses are effectively making unemployment a way of life for millions.
More workers are unemployed longer than at any time in recent history. Businesses are still cutting back and consumers aren't spending.
Not mentioned is the primary psychological reason for this; few have any faith that Obama can pull the US economy out of the doldrums. His disastrous policies have exacerbated the situation. Lord knows what the economy will look like in the fall.
Ed Lasky adds:
Weren’t we promised that should the stimulus bill be passed, unemployment would fall? Can the president and a smitten media convey the big lie any longer? Not only has the unemployment rate soared, but the number of hours worked by those still employed has fallen to a low going back 45 years (shaving the average paycheck); also millions of people have been unemployed so long they have lost their unemployment benefits. I guess that is what one gets when you have a business bashing President (who has no experience in the business world and has no one in his Cabinet who does either) conjoined with a business- bashing Congress. The stimulus bill is a massive transfer of wealth to Democratic interest groups, with little true stimulus to the economy. Much of the stimulus that does trickle out goes towards states that are not even suffering relative to other states. A misnamed, mismanaged program. Obama owns the economy now.
If Robert Gibbs could turn back the clock would he rephrase one of his more absurd statements:
Wednesday, July 1st:
Stimulus Continues to Work Invisible, Intangible, Unverifiable WondersWhite House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Monday on MSNBC, on when the public can judge the success of the stimulus: "I think we should begin to judge it now."