Layoffs slow in April, but jobless rate hits 8.9%: Highest since 1983

[liberal N proud]

WASHINGTON -- The pace of layoffs slowed in April when employers cut 539,000 jobs, the fewest in six months. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9 percent, the highest since late 1983, as many businesses remain wary of hiring given all the economic uncertainties.

The Labor Department tally released Friday wasn't nearly as deep as the 620,000 job cuts that economists were expecting, and was helped by a burst of government hiring. The rise in the unemployment rate from 8.5 percent in March matched economists' forecasts.


The new report underscored the toll the longest recession since World War II has taken on America's workers and companies. However, the slowdown in layoffs may bolster hopes that the worst of the downturn's hefty job losses are past.

Still, companies will remain cautious in hiring, making it harder for laid-off workers to find new jobs.



http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-unemployment9-2009may09,0,4100182.story



Welcome back to the Reagan years.

[Christa]

1. The real unemployment rate is much higher

in practical terms. I wish they would publish exactly how many millions of people in the US are unemployed and are getting no benefits.

[earthside]

2. The Dow is UP!

We are living in a 'bizarro world' economy.

There is no concrete evidence that we have "formed a bottom." Unemployment even 'officially' is getting worse (the 'revised' numbers for February and March are bigger). The mega-banks are still insolvent. GM wants to manufacture half its cars overseas. Consumer credit plunged by $11 billion last month. The price of a gallon of gasoline is at least $2.25.

Where is this impending 'recovery'????

The disconnect between regular Americans and the con artists in Washington and o Wall Street is getting wider.

It seems to me that there is dangerous territory ahead if the elite keep acting and talking like everything is getting better, when in reality everything is getting worse for most Americans.

It is a very strange place we are in right now ... very strange.

[marketcrazy1]

3. all these "green shoots"

springing up are being fertilized by a rotting corpse!

[predfan]

4. My rural Tennessee county , during the Reagan years, had 72 straight months

of double digit unemployment.

Ah, good times. But he certainly had a good temperament, anyway.