Thread: Unemployment Rate Jumps to Five-Year High

Unemployment Rate Jumps to Five-Year High

The unemployment rate soared in August and employers slashed jobs, as a weakening in the labor market accelerated. The numbers suggest there is little good news ahead for American workers, who face deepening stress from several sides.

The jobless rate was 6.1 percent last month, up from 5.7 percent in July, the Labor Department said today. It is the highest unemployment rate in five years, and compares to joblessness of 4.1 percent one year ago.

Meanwhile, employers cut 84,000 jobs, the eighth straight month of losses and yet more evidence that businesses are cutting back. The report also revised July's jobs report to show steeper losses than previously estimated.

U.S. jobs and institutions have now eliminated 605,000 jobs this year. The number of unemployed stood at 9.4 million nationwide, and has grown 2.2 million over the past year.

Labor market conditions have been weakening throughout 2008, but had been doing so in a gradual manner. Many economists have hoped for a stabilization, or even improvement, in the economy in the second half of the year, but between the new reading on the job market and data yesterday indicating poor back-to-school sales, it doesn't appear to be happening.

That is part of a triple whammy affecting American consumers. They have less wealth, given falling home prices and a falling stock market. They can't get loans as easily to ride out the bad times, as banks and other lenders have become more cautious. And now the job market is deteriorating even worse than expected.

That hurts even those who don't lose their jobs, as they have less leverage to negotiate raises: The average weekly wage for nonmanagerial workers rose 3.3 percent in the last year, which is likely to be less than inflation during the same span.

Wall Street, which suffered one of its worst trading days of the year on Thursday, headed lower again Friday as investors took stock of the latest employment numbers. The Dow Jones industrial average had lost more than 80 points after the first minutes of trading.

The unemployment rate rose most among women (for whom jobless rose to 5.3 percent from 4.7 percent), blacks (10.6 percent from 9.7 percent), and Hispanics (to 8 percent, from 7.4 percent). There is one possible silver lining in the weaker jobless numbers: In August, unemployment benefits were extended over a longer span, which may have made people more inclined to wait before accepting a job offer.

The cuts by employers were spread widely. Manufacturers cut 61,000 jobs, reflecting less demand for goods. Retailers, dealing with skittish consumers and some bankruptcies, slashed 20,000 jobs. Professional and business services firms cut 53,000 jobs, many of them for temporary help. Even the nations hotels and restaurants, which had been strong, cut back, with the leisure and hospitality sector cutting 4,000 jobs.

One surprising semi-bright spot: The construction industry, which has been steadily slashing jobs this year, only cut 8,000 positions. Industries that added jobs were few and far between, notably those in education and health care and the government.

The poor jobs report comes amid continued concern about global economic growth. Major Asian indexes were all off by roughly 2 percent in overnight trading, while European markets had declined by around 1 percent as of midday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

HOW MANY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE REALLY IN OUR UNITED STATES TAKING JOBS THAT RIGHTFULLY BELONG TO AMERICAN WORKERS???

There is endless speculation about how many illegal immigrants there are in our United States. Our politicians, especially the pro-illegal ones, love to use the number 12 million. They have been using that same number for the last four years, all while, each year, millions more illegals have invaded our United States.

Illegals have been swarming across our border ever since 1986, when amnesty was granted to the estimated 1.3 million illegal immigrants, who were here at that time, which turned out to be closer to 3.5 million.

In 2001, before any real concentrated border enforcement effort, it was estimated that the Border Patrol apprehended 1, out of every 7, illegal immigrants, attempting to cross our Southern border. Now, with a increased Border Patrol effort, and 300 miles of fencing, plus some vehicle barriers, along the almost 2,000 mile Southern border, it is estimated that the Border Patrol now apprehends 1, out of every 4, illegal immigrants, attempting to cross our Southern border.

So, realizing that we could grossly guestimate how many illegals came into our country each year, by multiplying available DHS statistics on Border Patrol apprehensions, by as much as 6, in the early years, and by 3 in the last couple of years, how many illegals do you think we now have in our country??

-------------SOUTHWEST BORDER PATROL APPREHENSIONS----------
----1999-------2000-------2001-------2002-------2003-------2004-------2005-------2006------2007------2008
1,537,000-1,643,679-1,235,718--929,809--905,065-1,139,282-1,189,108-1,071,972-858,638-611,721

In the last ten years, well over 11 million illegals have been apprehended at the border. If we used the lowest multiplier, that 1, out of 4, were apprehended, it still indicates that over 33 million illegals entered our United States, and that is just in the last ten years. How many more entered from 1987 to 1998??

Let's stop accepting, or believing, that there are only 12 million illegals in our United States. There are probably much closer to 40 million, if not more. We can even assume that as many as 20 million former illegals have since become legal over the past 22 years, and the numbers of illegals, here right now, could still be well over 30 million.

Support E-Verify for ALL employees, and let's begin taking our country back!!!