Where are the jobs?
August jobs report: Hiring grinds to a halt
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- So much for getting Labor Day weekend off to a good start.
Hiring slammed to a complete halt in August, as several fresh challenges put the American economy in turmoil.
Employers added no jobs during the month and the unemployment rate remained at 9.1%, the Labor Department said Friday.
"We expected a weak report, and what we got was even weaker," said Patrick O'Keefe, director of economic research at J.H. Cohn.
The report was partially distorted by 22,000 state workers in Minnesota returning to work after a temporary government shutdown in July, as well as 45,000 Verizon workers on strike in August.
Those effects made it hard to compare the August jobs number to the 85,000 jobs gained in July.
Still though, the overall figure is considered dismal in comparison to job gains of about 200,000-a-month earlier this year.
"When our attention is drawn to the Verizon strike and the Minnesota situation, it's akin to saying that a skunk had bad breath, and then it took a dinner mint. That doesn't suddenly change the fact that it's still a skunk and it still stinks," O'Keefe said.
Economists typically estimate the nation needs to add about 150,000 jobs each month to keep up with population growth alone. It needs even stronger growth to recover the millions of jobs lost during the financial crisis.
Surprising six-figure salaries
Weak hiring in August was hardly a surprise. The month started with Congress haggling about the debt ceiling, Standard & Poor's downgrading the United States credit rating and the stock market zigzagging.
Consumer confidence plunged to its lowest level since the recession, and fears of an even weaker economy likely kept employers on the sidelines, instead of hiring.
Temporary factors: The Verizon strike temporarily deflated the job figures because union workers walked off the job during the week that the Labor Department collected payroll data from companies.
Even though they have since returned to work, they still won't be included in the official national tally until the government revises its August numbers on Oct. 7.
Similarly, Minnesota workers who had been out of work temporarily during a government shutdown in July, showed up again in the August report, clouding the overall reading even further.
Expecting those distortions, a CNNMoney survey of 21 economists had predicted the economy would add 75,000 jobs in August.
They also expect job growth to remain weak for the rest of the year, with the economy adding an average of 110,000 jobs each month and the unemployment rate barely ticking down to 8.9%.
The White House said yesterday that it predicts the unemployment rate will remain stubbornly high, not falling below 6% until 2017.
Source
The source just has lots of people bashing Obama. Honestly, I'm teaching English right now and this is basically why I'm planning to get qualified to teach internationally. Forget this.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- So much for getting Labor Day weekend off to a good start.
Hiring slammed to a complete halt in August, as several fresh challenges put the American economy in turmoil.
Employers added no jobs during the month and the unemployment rate remained at 9.1%, the Labor Department said Friday.
"We expected a weak report, and what we got was even weaker," said Patrick O'Keefe, director of economic research at J.H. Cohn.
The report was partially distorted by 22,000 state workers in Minnesota returning to work after a temporary government shutdown in July, as well as 45,000 Verizon workers on strike in August.
Those effects made it hard to compare the August jobs number to the 85,000 jobs gained in July.
Still though, the overall figure is considered dismal in comparison to job gains of about 200,000-a-month earlier this year.
"When our attention is drawn to the Verizon strike and the Minnesota situation, it's akin to saying that a skunk had bad breath, and then it took a dinner mint. That doesn't suddenly change the fact that it's still a skunk and it still stinks," O'Keefe said.
Economists typically estimate the nation needs to add about 150,000 jobs each month to keep up with population growth alone. It needs even stronger growth to recover the millions of jobs lost during the financial crisis.
Surprising six-figure salaries
Weak hiring in August was hardly a surprise. The month started with Congress haggling about the debt ceiling, Standard & Poor's downgrading the United States credit rating and the stock market zigzagging.
Consumer confidence plunged to its lowest level since the recession, and fears of an even weaker economy likely kept employers on the sidelines, instead of hiring.
Temporary factors: The Verizon strike temporarily deflated the job figures because union workers walked off the job during the week that the Labor Department collected payroll data from companies.
Even though they have since returned to work, they still won't be included in the official national tally until the government revises its August numbers on Oct. 7.
Similarly, Minnesota workers who had been out of work temporarily during a government shutdown in July, showed up again in the August report, clouding the overall reading even further.
Expecting those distortions, a CNNMoney survey of 21 economists had predicted the economy would add 75,000 jobs in August.
They also expect job growth to remain weak for the rest of the year, with the economy adding an average of 110,000 jobs each month and the unemployment rate barely ticking down to 8.9%.
The White House said yesterday that it predicts the unemployment rate will remain stubbornly high, not falling below 6% until 2017.
Source
The source just has lots of people bashing Obama. Honestly, I'm teaching English right now and this is basically why I'm planning to get qualified to teach internationally. Forget this.