More Finding Work in U.S.

[Herman Munster]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/business/10econ.html

If the economy is really slowing as much as some recent statistics suggest, working Americans have so far managed to dodge the bullet.

The Labor Department’s latest monthly report on employment, released yesterday, showed all the hallmarks of a still healthy job market in February: steadily rising wages, firm job growth and a low unemployment rate. Employers added 97,000 workers, according to the estimate, and the jobless rate ticked down to 4.5 percent from 4.6 percent.

The decent-sized job gains, coupled with yet another upward revision to the employment increases first reported for previous months, helped assuage some of the anxiety over the state of the economy.

And the latest figures provided some reassurance to investors whose nerves were still on edge from last week’s global stock market turmoil, encouraging an initial flurry of buy orders but then settling down, with both the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index closing marginally higher.

A number of closely watched economic reports — including those that measure growth and business investment — have detected a downshift in recent months. While the economy may remain relatively sluggish, the new employment report suggests that a slower but still robust job market and rising wages should help provide the wherewithal for Americans to keep up the solid pace of spending that has prevented the economy from tipping down.

[TomClash]

1. Recession soon

God forbid workers have some control over their destinies.

[SoCalDem]

2. More misleading gobbledygook

"Service" sector jobs that have few, if any, benefits, and wacko hours, do not a strong economy make.

One only has to look ahead to the "planned" job cuts from GM, FORD, etc ...cuts of "family-supporting" jobs..that are in the pipeline now. What jobs will replace those? Wendy's..McDonalds...cashier at a movie theatre...lawncare...babysitting...

Also, with almost EVERY "jobs report", there is a quiet 'refiguring' article that comes out later that pretty much negates what the earlier report said.

With people having as much debt as most do, there are few jobs any more that do much more than hold the wolves at bay, from month to month..

It's gonna be a hard landing, folks.. get ready

[gollygee]

3. We have a friend who got laid off a couple of years ago

when the factory he worked at closed.

He has recently found a job delivering pizzas.

This is not "recovering". It's desperation.