Jobless rate slips, payrolls still weak

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Jobless rate slips, payrolls still weak
22
Fri, 01-09-2004 - 12:10pm

 

Jobless rate slips, payrolls still weak

Unemployment at 5.7%, but just 1,000 jobs added



The Associated Press

Updated: 10:05 a.m. ET Jan. 09, 2004


WASHINGTON - The nation’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.7 percent in December to the lowest level in 14 months, but employers finished the year without many help wanted signs for the holidays, adding just 1,000 new jobs.


The 0.2 percentage point drop in the jobless rate occurred only because fewer people were looking for work, the Labor Department said Friday. More than 300,000 people gave up their search for jobs and dropped out of the pool of available workers.


Weak holiday hiring by retailers was to blame for holding back job gains. Analysts were expecting companies to add 100,000 to 150,000 jobs to their payrolls last month. But the net gain was just 1,000 jobs.


Employment in the nation’s stores, malls and even gas stations dropped by 38,000, the report said, and manufacturing continued a 41-month slide by losing 26,000 jobs.


The nation’s factories have been on life support, and the sector shed about a half million jobs in 2003.


The economy has lost about 2.3 million jobs since President Bush took office, a statistic that Democrats hope to use against the Bush as he seeks re-election. The Bush administration contends that stronger economic growth — helped by the president’s three tax cuts — will eventually lead to more meaningful job creation on a sustained basis.


For that sustained growth, analysts are looking for monthly payroll gains of 200,000 to 300,000 — a mark the economy is far from reaching. December marked the fifth consecutive month of payroll gains, however slight.


Other areas of the economy are surging, but the jobs market has been a weak link in the recovery. To remain competitive in the global economy and out of concern that economic improvements wouldn’t last, companies have been hesitant to take on added costs of hiring new full-time workers. Instead, they have been working their employees longer and harder. Hence, the productivity of American workers has been at high levels in recent months.


The painfully slow employment growth has been making life difficult for job seekers.


Friday’s report showed that employers have added just 277,000 new jobs since July, cutting earlier estimates of growth in October and November.


Some areas of the economy added jobs last month. Employment continued to rise in the services sector in temporary employment services, education and health care. Construction companies also added to their payrolls.


But the cuts outweighed any gains. Besides, retailers, the federal and state governments reduced their payrolls, as did banks and mortgage companies, reflecting the uptick in mortgage interest rates.


Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Sat, 01-10-2004 - 7:18pm
I'm all for optimisim, but if you pick and choose the economic indicators you look at based on which ones make you happy, then you're just kidding yourself. They're all connected.

And believe me, I'd like job growth to get growing more than anyone. My brother's been out of work for two years and is still going on interviews and sending out resumes. He hasn't given up his optimism, and I'm just interested in making sure the Presdient is pushing policies that are really going to work. Can you explain to me how the tax cut is going to increase jobs. Or why it hasn't succeeded so far?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 01-12-2004 - 9:49am

Welcome

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-09-2004
Mon, 01-12-2004 - 12:30pm
Having tax breaks will increase the amount of money in your pocket. That gives you money to spend or put into investments. Either way it spurs the economy. Buying = demand. More demand requires more employees. Investing in companies enables them to research and develop new products (needing more employees).

Anyway, that is how a (cautiously) optimist sees how it works. I've actually done well the past year putting any spare little bit of extra $ into the stock market while prices were so low. Just doing my part to help the ol' economy out!

Avatar for goofyfoot
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 01-12-2004 - 1:49pm
You wouldn't believe, there a some people that don't mind being overtaxed as long

as it's "for the children". Go figure.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Mon, 01-12-2004 - 2:11pm
<> But demand doesn't necessarily require more AMERICAN employees, right?

Investing = stronger economy - but companies don't have to hire here as they expand.

Could this by why the economy is rebounding but jobs aren't?

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-09-2004
Mon, 01-12-2004 - 3:25pm
I don't know... if I were in charge of a company and could hire someone to do a job for less money, possibly without unions too, so my company could make money...Yeah, the logical (not emotional) chioce would be to hire outside.

I live in a large agricultual area and there are LOTS of hispanics (many not legal) working these farms. The farmers I know tell me that they would LOVE to hire Americans and do whenever they can BUT... noone wants those jobs, it's too easy to collect unemployment than to pick peaches in 95 degrees with 80% humidity!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Mon, 01-12-2004 - 4:45pm
So you don't think the Bush job plan is going to work very well against the presures of the global economy...or did I misunderstand your post?
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-09-2004
Tue, 01-13-2004 - 9:00am
What specific Bush Job Plan are you talking about? He has cut taxes to get money moving. And yes, the U.S. economy is not independent of the Global Economy. So what REAL influence can he have over the world situation?

It's obvious that we are coming from opposite sides of the same problems and we'll never come together... On that, I'll let you debate this more with others! God Bless!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 01-13-2004 - 11:02am

"No guarantee they'll be able to stay permanently, and no guarantee they won't be able to stay permanently."
-Don Evans, U.S. commerce secretary



"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom."
-Albert Einstein (1879-1955)


'Exporting America' Here's a list of some of the companies.........
3Com
3M

A
Accenture
Adaptec
Adobe Systems
AMD
Aetna
Agere Systems
Agilent Tech.
AIG
Alamo Rent A Car
Albertson's
Alliance Semiconductor
Allstate
Alpha Thought Global
American Express
American Standard
Amphenol Corp.
Andrew Corp.
AOL
Applied Materials
AT&T
AT&T Wireless
A.T. Kearney
Avery Dennison

B
Bank of America
Bank One
Bechtel
Best Buy
Black & Decker
BMC Software
Boeing

C
Capital One
Carrier
Cendant
Cerner Corporation
Charles Schwab
ChevronTexaco
Ciena
Cigna
Circuit City, Inc.
Cisco Systems
Citigroup
Coca-Cola
Comcast Holdings
Computer Associates
Computer Sciences Corporation
Continental Airlines
Convergys
Cooper Tire & Rubber
Cooper Tools
COVAD Comm.
CSX
Cummins

D
Dell Computer
Delta Air Lines
Direct TV
Discover
Document Sciences Corp.
DuPont

E
Earthlink
Eastman Kodak
EDS
Electroglas
Electronic for Imaging
Eli Lilly
EMC
Emerson Electric
Ernst & Young
Expedia
ExxonMobil

F
Fedders Corporation
Fidelity Investments
First American Title Ins.
Fluor
Ford Motor
Franklin Mint

G
Gateway
General Electric
GlobespanVirata
Goldman Sachs
Goodrich
Google
Greenpoint Mortgage
Guardian Life Insurance

H
The Hartford Financial Services Group
HealthAxis
Hewitt Associates
Hewlett-Packard
HSN

I
IBM
IndyMac Bancorp
Intel
Intl. Paper
Intuit
ITT Educational Services

J
Jacuzzi
JDS Uniphase
Johnson & Johnson
JPMorgan Chase
Juniper Networks

K
KANA Software
Kaiser Permanente
Keane
KLA-Tencor

L
Lehman Brothers
Levi Strauss
Lexmark International
Lifescan
Lillian Vernon
Linksys
Lockheed Martin
Lowe's
Lucent

M
Marshall Fields
Mattel
Maytag
McDATA Corporation
Mellon Bank
Merrill Lynch
Metasolv
MetLife
Microsoft
Monsanto
Morgan Stanley
Motorola

N
Nabco
National City Corporation
NCR Corporation
Network Associates
Newell Rubbermaid
New York Life Insurance Co.
Northwest Airlines

O
Office Depot
Oracle
Otis Elevator Co.

P
palmOne
Parker-Hannifin
Parsons E&C
Pearson Digital Learning
Pericom Semiconductor
Perot Systems
Pfizer
Planar Systems
Portal Software
Pratt & Whitney
Primus Telecom
Procter & Gamble
Providian Financial
Prudential Insurance

Q
Qwest Comm.

R
Rainbow Technologies
Raytheon Aircraft
Regence Group
Rohm & Haas
RR Donnelley & Sons

S
SAIC
SBC Comm.
SEI Investments
Siebel Systems
Sikorsky
Solectron
Sprint
Sprint PCS
State Farm Insurance
StorageTek
SunTrust Banks
SurePrep
The Sutherland Group
Sykes Enterprises

T
Target
Tecumseh
Telcordia
Texas Inst.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Time Warner
Triquint Semiconductor
TRW Automotive
Tyco Electronics
Tyco Intl.

U
Unisys
United Online
United Tech.

V
VA Software
Veritas
Verizon

W
Wachovia Bank
Washington Group Intl.
Washington Mutual

Y
Yahoo!

cl-Libraone





 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Tue, 01-13-2004 - 5:56pm

A veritible who's who of American corporations, huh?