Obama promises action after disastrous unemployment figures in the U.S.
March 6, 2009 by
Filed under Politics
COLUMBUS, USA (AFP) – President Barack Obama on Friday vowed to take action, after the atrocious official employment figures showing that the U.S. economy 651,000 jobs eliminated in February, bringing unemployment to 8.1% of the economically active. “This morning we learned that we lost another 651,000 jobs throughout the country, only in February,” said Obama.
“That leads to a staggering total of 4.4 million jobs lost during the recession,” Obama said during a graduation ceremony for police cadets, who were able to keep their jobs thanks to investments made from the incentive plan economic 787,000 million dollars sponsored by Obama.
“We have a responsibility to act and that is what we intend to do as president of the United States,” he concluded.
The fall of the workforce was announced by the Department of Labor is in line with the forecasts of analysts, who expected a reduction of 650,000 jobs.
But the department also revised sharply upward its estimate of the number of jobs lost in the previous two months: 655,000 in January (instead of the 598,000 announced), and 681,000 in December (against 577,000 before), making it the month that more jobs were lost in the U.S. since October 1949.
Consequently, the unemployment rate rose 0.5 point compared to its estimated level in the previous month to reach a level not known since the start of the recession of the early 1980s.
The industry, beaten in the last two years, has lost 276,000 jobs, after having deleted the previous month 379,000.
The tertiary sector, which employs about 85% of the nonagricultural workforce lost 375,000 jobs, after removing 276,000 in January.
“The picture is ugly and seems to be getting worse with respect to the previous month,” said Robert MacIntosh, chief of the economics of investment firm Eaton Vance. “It’s a deep, dark recession.”
MacIntosh noted that the report suggests a long road ahead for the devastated U.S. economy.
“I think in 2010 we will actually see growth,” he added.
He added that unemployment is a “leading indicator and retrospective that will worsen even if there is a shift in the economy.”
Meanwhile, the Labor Department’s secretary, Hilda Solis, said that greater efforts to revive the ailing economy.
“We will continue doing whatever is necessary to break the destructive cycle of job losses in this country and will work again to the United States.”
Aaron Smith, the website Economic.com said the unemployment rate could accelerate to 10%, even more difficult to sell in the United States in this situation.
“While the aggressive policy of government help, it will take time,” he said.
However, some analysts said that there are modest signs of hope for the small improvement which existed between December and January.
“It was a grim, but it is not a death spiral,” said Cary Leahey, chief economics Economic Decisions.
The total number of unemployed persons in the United States is now 12.5 million people, according to the official figure of Labor. They added about 5.6 million people who claim to want to find a job but who for various reasons are not included in the economically active population.
