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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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US jobless increases to 9.4% in May
By Jeannine Aversa |
June 6, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
WITH companies in no mood to hire, the unemployment rate jumped to 9.4 percent last month, the highest in more than 25 years. But the pace of layoffs eased, with employers cutting 345,000 jobs, the fewest since September.
The much smaller-than-expected reduction in payroll jobs, reported by the Labor Department yesterday, adds to evidence the recession is loosening its hold on the country. It marked the fourth straight month that the pace of layoffs slowed.
Still, the increase in the nation's unemployment rate from 8.9 percent in April underscores the difficulties that America's 14.5 million unemployed are having in finding new jobs. Economists had expected the rate to hit 9.2 percent last month.
If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.4 percent last month, the highest on records dating to 1994.
Even with layoffs slowing, companies will be reluctant to hire until they feel certain that economic conditions are improving and that any recovery will last.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 6 million jobs.
As the recession - which is now the longest since World War II - bites into sales and profits, companies have turned to layoffs and other cost-cutting measures to survive the fallout. Those include holding down workers' hours and freezing or cutting pay.
The average work week last month fell to 33.1 hours, the lowest on records dating to 1964.
Job losses - while slower last month - were still widespread.
Construction companies cut 59,000 jobs, down from 108,000 in April. Factories cut 156,000, on top of 154,000 in the previous month. Retailers cut 17,500 positions, compared with 36,5000 in April.
Financial activities cut 30,000, down from 45,000 in April. Even the government trimmed employment - by 7,000 - after bulking up by 92,000 in March as it added workers for the 2010 Census.
Education, health care, leisure and hospitality were among the industries adding jobs last month.
Still, in another encouraging note, job losses in both March and April were less than previously thought.
The much smaller-than-expected reduction in payroll jobs, reported by the Labor Department yesterday, adds to evidence the recession is loosening its hold on the country. It marked the fourth straight month that the pace of layoffs slowed.
Still, the increase in the nation's unemployment rate from 8.9 percent in April underscores the difficulties that America's 14.5 million unemployed are having in finding new jobs. Economists had expected the rate to hit 9.2 percent last month.
If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.4 percent last month, the highest on records dating to 1994.
Even with layoffs slowing, companies will be reluctant to hire until they feel certain that economic conditions are improving and that any recovery will last.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 6 million jobs.
As the recession - which is now the longest since World War II - bites into sales and profits, companies have turned to layoffs and other cost-cutting measures to survive the fallout. Those include holding down workers' hours and freezing or cutting pay.
The average work week last month fell to 33.1 hours, the lowest on records dating to 1964.
Job losses - while slower last month - were still widespread.
Construction companies cut 59,000 jobs, down from 108,000 in April. Factories cut 156,000, on top of 154,000 in the previous month. Retailers cut 17,500 positions, compared with 36,5000 in April.
Financial activities cut 30,000, down from 45,000 in April. Even the government trimmed employment - by 7,000 - after bulking up by 92,000 in March as it added workers for the 2010 Census.
Education, health care, leisure and hospitality were among the industries adding jobs last month.
Still, in another encouraging note, job losses in both March and April were less than previously thought.
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