Friday, August 6, 2010

"Our economy is not yet where it needs to be." - NO KIDDING


President Obama: "We’ve still got a long way to go. We’ve gone through a very, very difficult time. The auto industry has gone through a difficult time. And it’s not back to where it needs to be. Our economy is not yet where it needs to be."

REALLY??? Wow! It must be tough to have to say that & really act like you mean it....Those words must be a major comfort to the people losing their homes and who have not been able to find a good paying job for months....NOT !!

Not that you'll ever have to worry about it as you & your wife will be on the Federal DOLE for the rest of your lives.....POTUS was in Michigan on a political tour as his wife is overseas wasting tax-payer money on her 8th vacation this year.......talk about an injustice. Let's see how they would feel if they had to live on an unemployment check for about 7 months.....that would be Justice!

And the hits just keep on coming for the American workers....less jobs, less pay and no end in sight as the present Congress & Administration haven't got a clue to how bad it really is for the average American.

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Companies hire at slow pace for 3rd straight month

Private employers added 71,000 jobs in July; unemployment rate unchanged at 9.5 percent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Companies showed a lack of confidence about hiring for a third straight month in July, making it likely the economy will grow more slowly the rest of the year. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent.


Private employers added a net total of only 71,000 jobs in July, far below the roughly 200,000 needed each month to reduce the unemployment rate.


Overall, the economy lost a net total of 131,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, mostly because 143,000 temporary census jobs ended.

Investors reacted by selling stock futures and shifted into safer investments such as Treasury bonds. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which helps set interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, fell to 2.87 percent from 2.91 percent late Thursday.


The department also revised down its jobs figures for June, saying businesses hired fewer workers than previously estimated. June's private-sector job gains were lowered to 31,000 from 83,000. May's were raised slightly to show 51,000 net new jobs, up from 33,000.


"There is still a labor market recovery, but it's a very, very weak one," said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight.

The slow pace of hiring will weigh on the recovery, he said, with economic growth in the current quarter likely to come in even lower than the April-to-June quarter's already weak 2.4 percent.


The "underemployment" rate was the same as in June, at 16.5 percent. That includes those working part time who would prefer full-time work and unemployed workers who've given up on their job hunts.


All told, there were 14.6 million people looking for work in July. That's roughly double the figure in December 2007, when the recession began.


Even if hiring picks up, it will take years to regain all the jobs lost during the recession. The economy lost 8.4 million jobs in 2008 and 2009. This year, private employers have added only 559,000 new hires.


Friday's report is being closely watched by the Federal Reserve as it considers ways to energize the recovery. The report could persuade the Fed to take new steps to boost the economy and keep interest rates at record lows when it meets next week.

Without more jobs, consumers won't see the gains in income needed to encourage them to spend more and support economic activity. Even those with jobs may not feel confident enough to ramp up their spending.

That's important because many of the trends driving economic growth earlier in the recovery are fading. Companies boosted production in the winter and spring to rebuild inventories that were depleted in the recession. But that boost won't last much longer. And the impact of the federal government's stimulus package is also declining.

The economy grew at 5 percent in the fourth quarter last year and 3.7 percent in the first three months of 2010. But that slowed to 2.4 percent in the April-June period. That's not fast enough to generate many jobs and reduce the unemployment rate.

Many companies appear to be getting more out of their current employees rather than adding new staff. The average work week increased by one-tenth of an hour to 34.2 hours, the department said. That's up from about 33 hours in the depths of the recession.

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